Houstonfest

Founded in 1980, Houstonfest is an annual competition for Houston-area students in grades 8 through 12 (and some in grade 7) who are learning German. It offers 42 contests for students in German I, II, III, IV, and V, including written and oral tests, declamation, drama, art, and music. Because some contests have multiple levels, there are actually 88 different competitions! These include some competitions exclusively for "advantaged speakers" and some that are conducted virtually through online submission. Registration is accepted only from German teachers registering their participating students as a group; we do not accept registration from individual students.

For the last pre-pandemic contest (2020) we had 562 students registered from 21 schools. In the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, our all-online editions of Houstonfest drew 166 students from 12 schools and 371 students from 19 schools respectively. We returned to an in-person contest in 2023 and had 450 students from 17 schools registered. Teachers and others from the local German-speaking community serve as judges; we had at least 124 teachers and volunteers serving as judges and proctors in 2023. If you are interested in serving as a judge, contact director Rustin Buck by email and he'll send you a link to a Google Form to sign up.

Entrants placing in the top five in each event at Houstonfest, traditionally held on the first Saturday of February (which will be February 3 in 2024), advance to the Texas State German Contest, traditionally held on the last Saturday of February (which will be February 24 in 2024). At State, Houstonfest's winners compete against the winners of the other two Texas regional German competitions, Winterfest for the Dallas and North Texas area and Sprachfest for the Central and South Texas area.

Houstonfest is held at Heights High School in Houston and State at Texas State University in San Marcos.

After competition is over and while everyone is waiting for the awards to be tabulated, we usually have entertainment by the band Das ist lustig and local professional German folk dancers. The Tomball German Festival also traditionally invites winning Folk Dance and Polka Band groups as well as Vocal Soloists to perform at their festival each year and makes donations to the German Clubs of all schools that perform.

For more information:

Brochure about Texas German contest system

Contest Promo Video #1

(students from one school tell why they love contest)

Contest Promo Video #2

(one student tells why she loves contest)

Incentives for schools new to Houstonfest

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.