As a regional coordinator who didn't use the YSC Portal for your regional STEM fair this year, the process for registering your finalists for the Canada-Wide Science Fair differs slightly from portal users. This guide walks you through the steps to register both your finalists and delegates.

Video Walkthrough

Note: This video was recorded for CWSF 2025 and remains accurate for 2026. You'll notice a few small differences: projects in the sidebar are now grouped under a CWSF Projects menu, and you can also access a finalist's registration by clicking their name or the project title directly from the dashboard. The registration area also includes a Travel tab not shown in the video. If you're watching the finalist registration walkthrough, there is no Tours tab this year. View the detailed steps below for more information.

Step 1: Accessing Your CWSF Registration Area

1. Log in to your YSC Portal account as a regional coordinator
2. Go to 2026 Affiliation in the sidebar
3. Select CWSF-ESPC 2026

Step 2: Managing Participant Information

In the CWSF Registration area, you'll see several tabs to complete:

Participants

1. Go to the Participants tab
2. Click Add Participant
3. Select Event Finalist from the Participant role dropdown menu
4. Enter the finalist's information:
   • Email address
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Gender
   • School
     
   • Start typing a unique part of the school name. Select the school and press Enter.
     
   • If appropriate, check the Home schooled checkbox.
   • Grade
5. Click Save

Once saved, the system will automatically send a welcome email to the finalist with:

• A congratulatory message
• The URL to access the portal
• Their email address
• A temporary password
• Important registration deadlines

Projects

After registering your finalists, you'll need to add their projects:

1. Go to the Projects tab
2. Click Add project
3. Enter the project details:
   • Project title
   • Challenge
     
   • Grade category
4. Select the finalist(s) associated with the project (only finalists in the project's grade category will appear)
5. Click "Add Project"

Roommates

1. Create roommate groups for your finalists by clicking the Create Roommate Group button
2. Select "Finalists" and choose the appropriate gender
3. Delegates receive single rooms, so no roommate groups are needed for them

Important: Every finalist must be assigned to a roommate group, even if they're in a single-person group. This ensures they will be properly assigned to a room.

Forms

1. Navigate to the "Forms" tab
2. The Permission, Consent, and Release Form is required for all finalists
   
3. You can download this form to review it
   
4. Finalists can download, complete, and upload their own forms through their portal
5. Forms are fillable PDFs that can be signed digitally
6. Forms require signatures from:
   
• The finalist
  
• A parent/guardian (if the finalist is under age 18)
  
• A regional fair representative (usually the coordinator)
  
7. After you've verified all forms are properly completed and uploaded, check the acknowledgment box and click Submit

Travel

1. This tab displays the mode of travel for your region (e.g., Air Travel (YSC-organized), the travel dates, and important notes about travel and travel deviations – requests for finalists or delegates to travel separately from the regional group
   
2. The Travel Documents section at the bottom enables you to download PDF documents with more details on your region's travel mode. This is also where your region's travel schedule and e-tickets will be available before the CWSF

Statistics

1. Enter and submit the information for your recently completed regional fair. These data are required to activate the Confirmation tab for your CWSF registration
   
2. You cannot edit data from previous years, but you can email the information to info@youthscience.ca, and we'll update the table
   

Step 3: Registering Your Delegates

1. In the Participants tab, click the "Add participant" button
2. Fill in the required information:
   • Email address
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Gender
3. Click Save to add the delegate
4. Repeat for each additional delegate
5. Delegates will receive an email with login information and a temporary password

Step 4: Tracking Finalist Registration

1. To track a finalist's registration progress or to view the project information, there are two options:
   
• Click CWSF Projects in the sidebar to see a list of the project titles
  
• Click a project title to see Project Data and the name(s) of the finalist(s)
  
• Clicking Project Data displays the project information entered by the finalist(s)
  
• Clicking a finalist's name displays all their registration tabs
  
• Click Dashboard at the top of the sidebar to see the projects displayed as cards
  
• Use the Regional Fair Projects and CWSF Projects buttons to switch between the sets of projects
  
• You can search the project cards by title or finalist name
• Clicking a project title displays the project information entered by the finalist(s)
  
• Clicking a finalist's name displays all their registration tabs
• Both the project data and the finalist registration are editable until the Confirmation tab is submitted, enabling you to review and revise the information if necessary

Step 5: Confirmation

Once you have completed all previous steps (with checkmarks across all sections), the Confirmation tab will activate. This is your final step:

1. Review all registration information
2. Check the confirmation box to verify your region has completed all requirements
3. Click "Submit"

Important Notes:

• The registration process for non-portal regions requires manually adding each finalist and their projects
• Delegates receive single rooms
• All finalists and delegates receive automated welcome emails with login credentials
• Every finalist must be included in a roommate group
• The Permission, Consent, and Release Form requires signatures from the finalist, parent/guardian (if applicable), and regional coordinator

For additional questions or support, please submit a ticket through this Help Center.