February 2026

EDITORS NOTE

February for many of you means high stress. Getting those last minute registrations in. Pulling all-nighters to make sure all those forms are approved and signed. Sending out your judges emails and getting them trained. We get it, and we are right there with you!

In our social media posts for the next couple of months, we are focusing on everything judging. Make sure you check out our new Judging Setup series on YouTube that walks you through every step of the judging setup on zFairs. Our goal is to make it easier for you to hand off the site if your team changes and not have to spend more of your limited time training. We also hope that you learn some new tricks that might help set up your judges for success.

February is the month of love and we would be remiss if we didn't take a moment to tell you all how much we love and appreciate all of you (yes even those of you we hear from often). Thank you for being a part of zFairs. We wouldn't be here without you.

NEW & IMPROVED

Lots of fabulous new additions and updates to zFairs to make your experience all that much better!

This is what's NEW:

• New Custom Question Responses now have users input date, time, and phone number responses. You can now also make section headers for the Custom Questions.
• Have the total score show on the bottom of your judges rubric, so they can see the score before submitting. Config "Judging Show Judge Score on Rubric Page"
• Auto tags for background check status
• Set a Self Nomination limit. Config "Entry Nomination Limit"
• Report Viewer Additions:
  • New Report: Judging Round Results/Scores You can select multiple rounds and get the totals from the selected rounds.
  • Skins are IN!!!: You can now create skins for your reports! This fantastic feature makes it possible for you to create customized reports to show and filter only the things you need. See how to use it on our YouTube channel.

UPDATES:

• You now can refresh forms right from the review page in custom forms review.
• You also can open uploaded forms in a new tab in paperwork review, so you can have multiple forms open at once. (This is currently unavailable for custom forms packets)
• Auto assign awards by percentage and filter results.
• Signatures now show in a script font.

TEAM NOTES

Many of you may have experienced brief interruptions while we roll out new updates. We sincerely apologize for any frustration this causes, but we are also incredibly excited to bring you the new features you've been asking for!

What's going on? When we launch an update, the site undergoes a quick refresh. If you happen to be logging in or switching pages at that exact moment, you might see a temporary "error" page. Not to worry—simply refreshing your browser will bring everything back online in seconds.

While we are working toward a more seamless update process, our priority is keeping the platform live and updated without scheduled downtime during your busy fair season. We appreciate your patience as we continue to evolve zFairs to better serve your needs.

zFairs TIP: Crunch Time Self Care

Pulling some all-nighters to just get through paperwork review or getting welcome packets together? We worry about you! Here are some simple self care tips to get you through these crunch times and still come out human.

• Take a 5 minute break for every 45 minutes worked. An article on the effects of taking breaks from the APA says "Breaks can improve our moods, overall well-being and performance capacity." Breaks can involve a short exercise like a walk, or a simple activity like watching a YouTube video.
• Get some exercise. Making time to do a short 10 minute workout in the morning before work improves cognitive function and lessens caffeine dependency.
• Drink water. Water has some significant health benefits like reduces headaches, improves energy, and boosts memory functions.
• Irritation is not a flaw, it's a signal. When you start to feel that anger and annoyance creep up on you, it's your body signaling that it is time to practice some self care. Prioritize you and you will find that everything else will start to improve as well.