News and Updates

Houstonfest Scholarships

Gail Cope Scholarships at State

Scholarships for winning research papers at State

Plays will be performed at Houstonfest

Venue 2012

Concession stand at Houstonfest

Daily log of changes to state-qualifier list

Important Dates

Mar. 2, 2012:  Houstonfest Scholarship applications due

Mar. 9, 2012:  Gail Cope Scholarship applications due

Jan. 14, 2013:  Houstonfest e-mail registration due by 11:59 p.m. in order to qualify for regular price of $10 per student

Jan. 21, 2013:  Last day to submit late registration ($12 per student) and last day to postmark payment check

Jan. 29, 2013:  Proof sheet of entrants sent to teachers for final verification and changes

Jan. 31, 2013, 8:00 p.m.:  Deadline to submit changes (adds, drops, substitutions).  After this point, no more additions or substitutions will be allowed in individual events.  Substitution of students in group events may continue in emergency situations.

Feb. 2, 2013:  Houstonfest

Feb. x, 2013:  State online registration due by 11:59 p.m. in order to qualify for regular price of $10 per student.  Online registrations submitted after this point incur the late registration fee of $12 per student.

Feb. x, 2013:  State payment check must be postmarked

Feb. 23, 2013:  Texas State German Contest, University of Texas at Austin

Rules

Click here for a summary of rule changes that took effect in 2012.

General rules:

All participants in Houstonfest are responsible for taking care of and keeping up with their own belongings.  Neither the host school (usually Lanier Middle School, but Clements High School in 2012), its German teacher (usually Niels Nielsen, but Rustin Buck in 2012), 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.