News and Updates

Houstonfest Scholarships

Gail Cope Scholarships at State

Plays will be performed at Houstonfest

Changes to rules and critique sheets for 2010

Scholarships for winning research papers at State

Daily log of changes to state-qualifier list

Important Dates

Mar. 5, 2010:  Houstonfest Scholarship applications due

Mar. 10, 2010:  Gail Cope Scholarship applications due

Jan. x, 2011:  Early-bird registration ($8) must be postmarked and online registration must be submitted by 11:59 p.m.

Jan. x, 2011:  Regular registration ($10) must be postmarked and online registration must be submitted by 11:59 p.m.

Feb. 5, 2011:  Houstonfest, Lanier Middle School, Houston

Feb. x, 2011:  State early-bird registration due (submit online registration and mail payment; payment must arrive by Feb. x)

Feb. x, 2011:  State regular registration due

Feb. 26, 2011:  Texas State German Contest, University of Texas at Austin

Rules

General rules:

All participants in Houstonfest are responsible for taking care of and keeping up with their own belongings.  Neither Lanier Middle School, its German teacher Niels Nielsen, Houstonfest Inc., nor Houstonfest director Rustin Buck is responsible for items lost or left behind at the contest.

Only German teachers may register students for Houstonfest; we do not accept registration from individual students.

Any German teacher who registers one or more contestants must attend Houstonfest and serve as a judge (unless the director grants an exemption, which will only be done in extremely extraordinary situations).

Each contestant...

• must be in grade 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12;

• must be a student at a school where the registering teacher works;

• must be currently enrolled in a German course at that school, or if not, must have previously completed at least two years of German instruction AND be a current member of that school's German Club or German NHS.

The spirit of the foregoing rule is to prevent a team from recruiting "mercenary" artists, dancers, musicians, writers, etc. who have no real connection to the school's German program in order to bolster the team's classical ensemble, polka band, chorus, folk dance team, poster, photo essay, research paper, etc.  On the other hand, we do not want to exclude the occasional student who loves German and who took two or three years of it and who wants to continue participating in Houstonfest but who, for whatever reason, is not currently taking German.  Please note, however, that any contestant not currently enrolled in a German course should be entered in the level he/she would be in if he/she had continued taking German.  For example, if John stops taking German after completing German III but still wants to enter Houstonfest the next year, he should be entered in Level 4 events.

Note from the director:  These rules represent slightly edited versions of the Sprachfest/State rules.  To my knowledge, I changed only the formatting of the rules, not the substance.  However, if any discrepancies in substance did inadvertently creep in, be aware that the Sprachfest/State rules will govern the State competition, so I urge you to check the Sprachfest/State rules if you qualify for State to make absolutely sure that you know all the State criteria.  Here is a link to the Sprachfest rules website.  Please report to me any discrepancies that you discover so that I can fix them.