Beeville update

mySouTex.com - It’s a hoax

“Neither the plaque nor the letter is authentic, and this amounts to fraudulent use of NSF’s name and logo. This matter has been referred to our Office of the Inspector General,” said Maria Zacharias, group leader in the NSF public affairs division.

Besides all of these factors, Zacharias said that it would be unusual for the topic “Disproving Global Warming” to beat 50,000 other entries, as the letter claimed.

“Global warming is kind of a fact,” said Zacharias. “The controversy is over how much of it is caused by humans.”
...
Castillo said that his daughter discovered the contest through an ad for the “National Science Fair” on an educational Web site, but he did not remember which site.

According to Castillo, there was no entry fee for the fair, and the family had been in contact with someone in Arlington, Va., claiming to be the NSF. The actual NSF is based in the same city.

However, Castillo said that they did not have a copy of the application, and the packaging for the awards had already been thrown out.

Castillo said he believed someone had gone to great lengths to deceive his family and he had no idea why.

Note that under the headline "It's a hoax", there is a nice large closeup of Julisa’s father, J.R. Castillo.