News and Updates
Houstonfest Scholarships -
winners posted!
Scholarships at State
Special Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest
Teacher-to-Teacher Tips
Tips for Pair Discussion
Photo Gallery
2014
Arrival at Heights High School
Lunch options
Plays will be performed at Houstonfest
Daily log of changes to
state-qualifier list
Important Dates
Sat., Mar. 6, 2021:
State online awards ceremony
posted. Also,
Houstonfest Scholarship
applications due.
Fri., Mar. 12, 2021:
Gail Cope
Scholarship applications due.
Fri., April 30, 2021:
Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications due.
The rest of this will be updated for 2022 some time soon:
Sat., Jan. 16, 2021: Regular deadline to submit registration
spreadsheet in order to pay regular price of $10/student (payment does not have
to be mailed until 1/25).
Mon., Jan. 25, 2021: Final deadline to submit registration spreadsheet
for late price of $12/student and deadline to postmark payment.
Wed., Feb. 3, 2021,
8:00 p.m.: Deadline to submit changes (adds,
drops, substitutions). After this point, no more additions or
substitutions will be allowed.
Sat., Feb. 6, 2021:
Houstonfest (100% remote): some events conducted
"live" (online) that day, all others submitted digitally by 9:00 a.m.
Thur., Feb. 11, 2021:
Houstonfest online awards show emailed to teachers.
Wed., Feb. 17, 2021:
State online registration due by 11:59 p.m.
for "early bird" price of
$10/student (payment does not have to be mailed yet). Also, deadline to apply for the
Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship.
Mon., Feb. 22, 2021: State online registration due by 11:59 p.m. at
regular price of
$12/student. Also, entries for
promotional video contest
due to State director Jennifer Christianson by 8:00 p.m. and deadline to
postmark payment.
Sat., Feb. 27, 2021: Texas State German
Contest (100% remote): some events conducted "live" (online) that day, all
others submitted digitally by 9:00 a.m.
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Rules
Below are the "normal" rules
for Houstonfest in a non-pandemic year. To preserve a record of the normal
rules, alterations to the rules for the 2021 remote contest will not be
reflected here but rather documented at this link: Special
Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest.


Special Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest
All rules in one six-page document
(for non-pandemic years)
Show
your love for the Texas German contest system by producing a promotional video
and entering our contest. You could win $250!
Click here for the contest guidelines.
General rules:
-
All participants in Houstonfest are
responsible for taking care of and keeping up with their own belongings.
Neither the host school (Heights High School), its German teacher Mark
Johnson, Houstonfest, Houstonfest director Rustin Buck, the
Houstonfest steering committee, nor the umbrella organization Texas
State German Contests, Inc.
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 be done only in extremely extraordinary
situations).
-
Teachers should follow their school district's policy
regarding student eligibility to participate in contests.
-
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. There are two exceptions to this:
A Classical Instrumental Ensemble may contain one
"wild-card" student who is not currently taking and has not previously
taken German. A Polka Band may contain up to two
such "wild-card" students. "Wild-card" entries are allowed only in
these two events.
The spirit of the foregoing
rule is to prevent a school from stacking its entries with "mercenary" artists, dancers, musicians,
writers, etc. who have no real connection to the school's German program in
order to bolster the team's entries. 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.
- For liability reasons, video recordings are not
allowed in any room where students are competing or performing. If
parents and/or teachers wish to record a performance, they should plan
on doing it during a rehearsal or performance at their respective
school.
The contest director may assign a designated contest
photographer to take pictures or video footage throughout contest for
informational or publicity purposes. This will be immediately submitted
to the director on contest day. No student faces may be used from this
footage.
However, the contest director will accept video segments as well as
still photos from individual schools after contest has occurred (to be
used for promotional purposes, e.g., on the website). By submitting
these, teachers give permission for Houstonfest and Texas State
German Contests, Inc. to use them for informational or publicity
purposes. Before submitting such photos/videos, teachers must make
sure that students have permission forms on file at their school
allowing for photos/videos to be used on the website.
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When is the next Houstonfest?
Saturday,
February 5, 2022 Where
is Houstonfest?
Due to COVID-19, the 2021 contest was conducted entirely REMOTELY. We hope to be
back at our usual venue, Heights High School in Houston, in 2022.
Link to Texas
State German Contest
Texas
State German Contest on Facebook |