Houstonfest - History

News and Updates

Contest promo video #1 (students from one school tell why they love contest)

Contest promo video #2 (one student tells why she loves contest)

Contest promo video #3 (hilarious 2024 State-winning submission from our own Klein Oak High School!)

Daily log of changes to State-qualifier list

Important Dates

on a rolling basis but no later than Wed., Apr. 30, 2025 for payment during the 2024-2025 school year: submit Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications.

Mon. Jan. 13, 2025, 4:00 p.m.: Application for transportation grants from the Houston Saengerbund opens (IF THEY ARE OFFERED AT ALL; if so, teachers will be sent a link to a Google Form).

Tue., Jan. 21, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Houstonfest registration spreadsheet due for regular price of $12/student (payment does not have to be mailed until 1/27).

Mon., Jan. 27, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Houstonfest registration spreadsheet due for late price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark Houstonfest payment.

Sat., Feb. 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual Houstonfest events due (get link to Google Form from your teacher).

Tue., Feb. 4, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote judging of the 7 virtual Houstonfest events ends.

Wed., Feb. 5, 2025, 10:00 p.m.: Houstonfest changes (adds, drops, substitutions) due. After this point, no more changes will be allowed.

Sat., Feb. 8, 2025: Houstonfest, Kingwood High School, Houston.

Fri., Feb. 14, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: State online registration due for "early bird" price of $12/student (payment does not have to be mailed until 2/19).

Wed., Feb. 19, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: State online registration due for regular price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark your State payment.

Sat., Feb. 22, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual State events due (get the link to a Google Form from your teacher). Also, Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship and Sandra Dieckman GTHS Memorial Scholarship applications due (to submit the application, get the link to a Google Form from your teacher).

Mon., Feb. 24, 2025, 8:00 p.m.: Entries in State promotional video contest due to State director.

Tue., Feb. 25, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote judging of the 7 virtual State events ends.

Sat., Mar. 1, 2025: Texas State German Contest, Texas State University, San Marcos.

Sat., Mar. 8, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Houstonfest Scholarship applications due.

Sun., Mar. 16, 2025: Gail Cope State Scholarship applications due.

History of Houstonfest

by Rustin Buck, Director

I don't know much about the early days of Houstonfest. If you have any information about Houstonfest in the years 1980 to 1995, email me.

We do know that Houstonfest was founded in 1980, the last of the three Texas regional contests to come onto the scene. Winterfest (Dallas area) had begun in 1972 (although sources conflict on that date) and Sprachfest (Austin/San Antonio area) in 1976. The Texas State German Contest was held for the first time in 1982, bringing together the winners of the three regional contests for a second level of competition. See this 2024 research paper by Kaeden Thomas of Kingwood High School for more of the story of what led to the founding of the three regional contests and the State contest.

The first director of Houstonfest was Paul Soechting, at that time the German teacher at El Campo High School in El Campo. As far as I know, he directed 28 contests from 1980 through 2007. I took over in fall 2007 upon Paul's retirement and directed my first contest in 2008. So far, I have directed 17 contests from 2008 through 2024.

When I first began coming to Houstonfest as a first-year German teacher in 1996, it was held at Lanier Middle School in Houston, but I don't know if it had always been there or, if not, when it moved there. We stayed at Lanier through the 2015 contest, with one exception in 2012 (a scheduling conflict at Lanier caused us to hold it that year at my school at that time, Clements High School in Sugar Land). Beginning in 2016, we moved to Heights High School in Houston (at the time called Reagan High School) and stayed there through the 2024 contest, with two exceptions: in 2018, because of a scheduling conflict at Heights, we held Houstonfest at Hogg Middle School in Houston, and in 2021 and 2022 contest was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus had no physical location. Starting in 2025, we will begin a new era at Kingwood High School.

Houstonfest Timeline

(with much information about State as well since Houstonfest is inextricably tied to State)

1980	Houstonfest founded with Paul Soechting, at that time German teacher at El Campo High School in El Campo, as director.
1981
1982	Texas State German Contest founded with Mary El-Beheri, at that time German teacher at MacArthur High School in San Antonio, as director, held at Crockett High School, Austin.
1983	State at Crockett High School, Austin.
1984	State moves to the University of Texas at Austin (through 1995).
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996	Houstonfest Feb. 10, Lanier Middle School, Houston (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Mar. 2, Baylor University, Waco.
1997	Houstonfest Feb. 8, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Taylor (TX) HS); State Mar. 1, Baylor.
1998	Houstonfest Feb. 14, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - Bellaire HS, small - Taylor (TX) HS); State Apr. 4, Baylor.
1999	Houstonfest Feb. 6, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 27, Baylor.
2000	Houstonfest Feb. 5, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - Bellaire HS, small - ?); State Feb. 26, Baylor.
2001	Houstonfest Feb. 3, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - Bellaire HS, small - ?); State Feb. 24, Baylor. The Novice level of Pass auf! debuts at all regionals (but its winners do not advance to State) and "Pass auf!" becomes "Varsity Pass auf!".
2002	Houstonfest Feb. 2, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 23, Baylor. Texas State German Contests, Inc., encompassing Houstonfest, Sprachfest, Winterfest, and the Texas State German Contest, becomes a Texas corporation.
2003	Houstonfest Feb. 1, Lanier (we learn, along with the rest of the world, of the break-up of space shuttle Columbia that morning at 8:00 in the skies over Texas; sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 22, Baylor.
2004	Houstonfest Feb. 7 (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?), Lanier; State Feb. 28, Baylor.
2005	Houstonfest Feb. 5, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 26, University of Texas at Austin.
2006	Houstonfest Feb. 4, Lanier (sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 25, UT-Austin.
2007	Houstonfest Feb. 3, Lanier (last contest directed by Paul Soechting, sweepstakes: large - ?, small - ?); State Feb. 24, UT-Austin. Rustin Buck, at that point German teacher at Clements High School in Sugar Land, succeeds Paul Soechting as director of Houstonfest over the summer and launches the current Houstonfest website.
2008	Houstonfest Feb. 2, Lanier (first contest directed by Rustin Buck, 621 students from 25 schools, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Friendswood HS); State Feb. 23, UT-Austin. The first Houstonfest Scholarships are awarded. This is also the first year I can document in my files the existence of the Gail Cope Scholarships at State, although I suspect they began at least one year earlier because I am almost certain that I modeled the Houstonfest Scholarships on the Gail Cope Scholarships, which means they couldn't have started the same year. In any event, Gail Cope is a retired German teacher from Dallas (W.T. White High School) who helped lay the foundation of Winterfest and State and who to this day serves on the State Steering Committee and generously funds many aspects of the Winterfest and State contests.
2009	Houstonfest Feb. 7, Lanier (668 students from 23 schools, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Friendswood HS); State Feb. 28, UT-Austin.
2010	Houstonfest Feb. 6, Lanier (619 students from 24 schools, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Lanier MS); State Feb. 27, UT-Austin. Houstonfest begins a now long-standing tradition of having entertainment by the band "Das ist lustig" as everyone waits for the awards presentation to begin. Texas State German Contests, Inc., the umbrella organization to which Houstonfest belongs, is designated a 501(c)(3) public charity by the IRS.
2011	Houstonfest Feb. 5, Lanier (646 students from 24 schools registered, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Lanier MS); State Feb. 26, UT-Austin. Severe winter weather before and on Feb. 5 results in some schools being unable to attend Houstonfest (and the postponement of Winterfest by a week). Students who are unable to attend Houstonfest receive "wildcard" qualification to compete at State.
2012	Houstonfest Feb. 4, Clements High School, Sugar Land (550 students from 20 schools, venue change to director Rustin Buck's school due to scheduling conflict at Lanier, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Friendswood HS); State Feb. 25, UT-Austin. Events Crafts, Original Models, and Photography debut at regionals and State. The sweepstakes system receives a major overhaul (approved by the State Steering Committee in 2011). On Feb. 21, days before the State contest, Mary El-Beheri, the founding director of Sprachfest and the Texas State German Contest, dies. A memorial scholarship in her name is created in 2013. Jennifer Christianson succeeds her as executive director of State and, for a number of years, also as director of Sprachfest.
2013	Houstonfest Feb. 2, Lanier (713 students from 25 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Friendswood HS); State Feb. 23, UT-Austin. Event *Einzeltanz* (then called Einzelplattler) debuts at Houstonfest.
2014	Houstonfest Feb. 1, Lanier (595 students from 21 schools, sweepstakes: large - Clements HS, small - Lanier MS); State Feb. 22, UT-Austin. Event Contemporary Music debuts at regionals and State. Events Oral Presentation 4 and Pair Discussion debut at Houstonfest. Event Scavenger Hunt is overhauled to its current format (hunting four QR-codes that lead to four videos that teams must watch and then take a quiz over) but is not held at the State level this year. Houstonfest introduces the Klein aber fein trophy for schools entering 5-15 students and a cash prize for the top Rookie School and Rookie Teacher of the year.
2015	Houstonfest Feb. 7, Lanier (728 students from 26 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Reagan (Heights) HS); State Feb. 28, Texas State University, San Marcos. We are not aware at the time that it will be our last time holding Houstonfest at Lanier Middle School, so we don't have a chance to properly thank our long-time host, Lanier German teacher Niels Nielsen, for his many years of service. Severe winter weather prevents some schools (mostly from the Winterfest region and some from the Sprachfest region) from attending State. Event Digital Logo Design debuts at Houstonfest. Event Einzeltanz and the overhauled format of Scavenger Hunt debut at State.
2016	Houstonfest Feb. 6, Heights High School, Houston (then called Reagan High School) (674 students from 25 schools, sweepstakes: 1. Festliga - Kingwood HS, 2. Festliga - College Park HS, 3. Festliga - Seven Lakes HS); State Feb. 27, Texas State. Events Digital Logo Design and Pair Discussion debut at State; event Oral Presentation 4 is shelved for a year. The first food trucks make their appearance at Houstonfest. Bubble Soccer - just for fun - also makes the first of two appearances. Houstonfest begins a two-year experiment with a different way of awarding sweepstakes, a three-tiered system (1. Festliga, 2. Festliga, 3. Festliga) modeled on the German soccer system of 1. Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, and 3. Liga. Schools are assigned to a Festliga for 2016 based on their 2015 results and receive trophies within their Festliga. Further, one school each is to be promoted from the 3. Festliga to the 2. Festliga and from the 2. Festliga to the 1. Festliga each year, while one school each is to be demoted from the 1. Festliga to the 2. Festliga and from the 2. Festliga to the 3. Festliga each year.
2017	Houstonfest Feb. 4, Heights (708 students from 22 schools, sweepstakes: 1. Festliga - Kingwood HS, 2. Festliga - Morton Ranch HS, 3. Festliga - The Woodlands HS); State Feb. 25, Texas State. Event Oral Presentation 4 reappears with new rules at Houstonfest. Bubble Soccer makes its second (and last) appearance at Houstonfest. A statewide "Folk Dance Summit" in April results in a heavily revised scoring system for the event Folk Dance, effective in 2018.
2018	Houstonfest Feb. 3, Hogg Middle School, Houston (704 students from 24 schools, venue change due to scheduling conflict at Heights with invaluable assistance from Hogg German teacher Alison Wimmer Schmieder, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Morton Ranch HS); State Feb. 24, Texas State. Houstonfest returns to the usual two sweepstakes divisions, Small School and Large School. Event Oral Presentation 4 debuts at State. State begins to sponsor a Promotional Video contest in which schools can win a cash prize for making a video that teachers can show to students to create interest in participating in contest; the winner is determined by voting at the State awards assembly. On August 29, Terry Smith, the long-time statewide coordinator of Pass auf!, dies. The first-place State Pass auf! trophy is designated as the Terry Smith Memorial Trophy and, starting in 2019, begins to come with a $250 memorial prize.
2019	Houstonfest Feb. 2, Heights (652 students from 23 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Clements HS); State Feb. 25, Texas State. Event Advantaged Speaker Test debuts at Houstonfest and State.
2020	Houstonfest Feb. 8, Heights (560 students from 21 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Clements HS); State Feb. 29, Texas State. Event Play is contested for the last time. Event Timed Writing debuts at Houstonfest. Although it is already in the news in February, little do we know that the chaos and tragedy of COVID-19 will turn our world upside-down a few weeks later.
2021	Houstonfest Feb. 6, held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic (166 students from 12 schools, sweepstakes: large - Heights HS, small - Clements HS); State Feb. 27, also virtual. Only 41 of the usual 88 events are conducted: speaking events and Timed Writing are held "live" via Zoom while art events, declamation events (memory and reading events consolidated into simply "Poetry" and "Prose"), Contemporary Music (for individual performers only), Duet Acting, Research Paper, Video Show, and Vocal Solo entries are submitted via a Google Form through PDFs containing pictures or links to YouTube or Vimeo recordings. Duet Acting switches from being held for levels 1, 2, 3, and 4 to being held for Lower and Upper levels. Winners are announced via videos (Houstonfest video recorded by director Rustin Buck from his home, State video recorded by several State leaders at Texas State University). Ribbons, medals, and trophies from both contests are mailed or, in most cases, delivered in person to each school by director Rustin Buck. One unanticipated outcome is that we realize that a handful of events are actually well-suited to online submission and judging; the State Steering Committee decides later in the year to designate Digital Logo Design, Oral Presentation 4, Photo Essay, Poetry Reading 1-4, Prose Reading 1-4, Research Paper, and Video Show as "virtual events" on a permanent basis (for a total of 13 virtual events).
2022	Houstonfest Feb. 5, virtual (369 students from 19 schools, sweepstakes: large - Heights HS, small - Tompkins HS); State Feb. 26, also virtual. The original plan formulated in fall 2021 is to return to in-person contests (while keeping 13 events permanently virtual), but the rise of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 at the end of 2021 causes the State Steering Committee to pivot in early January to entirely virtual contests (regional and State) for a second year. A broader spectrum of events than in 2021 is offered (53 of the usual 88 events including a *unique version of Varsity Pass auf!* conducted live online via Kahoot! plus, for the only time ever, Timed Writing 3 and 4 for a total of 55 events*). Written tests (other than Timed Writing), Scavenger Hunt, Novice Pass auf!, and the memory categories of the declamation events are not held. Event Chorus* is contested for the last time. A generous donor funds a pronunciation contest (named Leidenschaft der Aussprache as the result of a separate "contest to name the contest") with prizes totaling $10,500 (top prize $4000); the goal is to encourage students to work specifically on their German pronunciation. Although the contest runs smoothly, it requires a lot of extra organizational work, and the donor decides not to continue it after its first year. As if the pandemic weren't enough, matters are further complicated by severe winter weather that forces schools in the Houston area to close on Friday, Feb. 4, the day before virtual submissions for Houstonfest are due, but we muddle through as best we can; the other regions have similar problems. The Houstonfest awards show is streamed live from Heights High School, emceed by director Rustin Buck and Heights German teacher Mark Johnson with a live "studio audience" of enthusiastic Heights students, while the State awards show is again recorded as a video by the four regional and State contest directors at Texas State University. Awards from both contests are again delivered to each school by director Rustin Buck. The Houston Saengerbund awards Houstonfest a $2000 grant to fund the Houstonfest Scholarships since declining registration totals mean that the scholarships can no longer be covered by the registration fees.
2023	After the long COVID hiatus, we finally return to in-person contests: Houstonfest Feb. 4, Heights (450 students from 17 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Tompkins HS), State Feb. 25, Texas State. This is the first chance to implement our new hybrid model in which most events are conducted in person but a handful are always conducted virtually (originally intended to launch in 2022). Event Oral Presentation Advantaged debuts at regionals and State as a virtual event, bringing the total of virtual events to 14. Houstonfest switches from emailed Excel spreadsheets to shared Google Sheets for registration. The Houston Saengerbund again awards Houstonfest a $2000 grant for scholarships as well as eight $300 grants to individual schools to help with their transportation costs to contest.
2024	Houstonfest Feb. 3, Heights (483 students from 18 schools, sweepstakes: large - Kingwood HS, small - Tompkins HS); State Feb. 24, Texas State. We say *"Auf Wiedersehen" to Heights High School* as our venue and thank Heights German teacher Mark Johnson for his many years as host. It is announced that Houstonfest will move to Kingwood High School starting in 2025 where it will be hosted by Kingwood German teacher David Kniess. The Houston Saengerbund awards Houstonfest an $1800 grant for scholarships.
2025	What history will we write this year?! Come and be a part of it!

When is the next Houstonfest?

Saturday,

February 8, 2025

Where is Houstonfest?

Kingwood High School

2701 Kingwood Dr.

Kingwood, TX 77339

(new location in 2025!)

Link to Texas State German Contest

Texas State German Contest on Facebook

Texas State German Contest 40th Anniversary Facebook Group

This website houstonfest.org has been in operation since 2007 (contest itself founded in 1980).

Houstonfest is a constituent member contest within Texas State German Contests, Inc.

Mission Statement: To promote German language and culture through engaging and friendly

competition among Texas schools and students.

Director: Rustin Buck (houstonfest@texasstategermancontest.org)