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News and Updates
NEW: Changes and
updates for 2026
Houstonfest Scholarships
Scholarships at State
Houstonfest history
Teacher-to-teacher tips
Tips for Pair Discussion
Arrival at Kingwood High School
Lunch options
State promo video contest
Daily log of changes to
State-qualifier list
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!)
Photo gallery
Important Dates
Mon., Jan. 12, 2026, 4:00 p.m.: Application for
transportation grants from the Houston Saengerbund opens (if grants are approved
for 2026); link will be sent to teachers.
Fri., Jan. 16, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: Application for
transportation grants from the Houston Saengerbund closes (if grants are
approved for 2026).
Wed., Jan. 21, 2026, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration
spreadsheet due for regular price of $15/student (payment does not have
to be mailed until 1/28).
Wed., Jan. 28, 2026, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration spreadsheet
due
for late price of $20/student. Deadline to postmark Houstonfest payment.
Sat., Jan. 31, 2026, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual Houstonfest events due (get link to
Google Form from your teacher).
Tue., Feb. 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual Houstonfest events ends.
Wed., Feb. 4, 2026, 10:00 p.m.: Houstonfest changes (adds,
drops, substitutions) due. After this point, no more changes will be allowed.
Sat., Feb. 7, 2026:
Houstonfest,
Kingwood High School, Houston.
Fri., Feb. 13, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due for "early bird" price of $15/student (payment does not
have to be mailed until 2/21).
Wed., Feb. 18, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due
for
regular price of
$20/student (payment does not have to be mailed until 2/21).
Sat., Feb. 21, 2026, 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). Deadline to postmark your State payment.
Mon., Feb. 23, 2026, 8:00 p.m.:
Entries in
State promotional video
contest
due to State director.
Tue., Feb. 24, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual State events ends.
Sat., Feb. 28, 2026:
Texas State German Contest,
Texas State
University, San Marcos.
Sat., Mar. 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m.: Houstonfest
Scholarship applications due.
xxx., Mar. xx, 2026: Gail Cope
State Scholarship applications due.
between Sat., Mar. 1 and Thu., Apr. 30, 2026: submit
Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications.
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Rules
All rules in one
document
Rules for the 7 virtual events in one document
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:
-
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 students' academic eligibility to participate in contests.
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Each contestant...
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must be in grade 7*, 8, 9, 10, 11,
or 12 ( * 7th-graders may enter if they are
enrolled in a course that earns them credit for German I by the end of
7th grade, i.e., they will move on to German II in 8th grade; students
who are taking German 1a in 7th grade and will continue to German 1b in
8th grade should wait until their 8th-grade year to start entering
contest);
-
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 2 years of German instruction AND be a current member of that
school's German Club or German NHS. There are 2 exceptions to this:
A Classical Ensemble may contain 1
"wild-card" student who is not currently taking and has not previously
taken German. A Polka Band may contain up to 2
such "wild-card" students. "Wild-card" entries are allowed only in
these 2 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, but we're willing to allow a little
outside help to make a Classical Ensemble or a Polka Band more viable.
Additionally, we do
not want to exclude the occasional student who loves German and who took 2 or
3 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 they would be in if they 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.
-
In a given year, a student must be entered in the same level for
all events, with the exception of drama events (Duet Acting, Puppet
Show, Skit - see example 3 below). If a student competes above their
enrolled level of German in a given year, they must continue to compete
"up the ladder" of levels each subsequent year. Once a student competes in any
event at the Advantaged level, they must compete as Advantaged in
all events for that year and all subsequent years.
-
Rationale: Generally, we
strongly discourage entering students in any level of an event other
than the level of German they are currently enrolled in, and we
discourage entering students in Advantaged events if they are not
truly Advantaged. If a teacher nevertheless elects to enter a student at a
level higher than their true level, long-term consequences ensue:
-
Example 1
("up-entering" from Level 1 to Level 2): Joe is enrolled in German
I. For whatever reason, the teacher wants to enter him in Grammar 2
this year instead of Grammar 1. This means that he must enter ALL
events at level 2 this year, not just Grammar, and next year, he must
enter ALL events at level 3 (even though he'll be in German II), and
the year after that, he must enter ALL events at level 4 (even through
he'll be in German III), etc. (Of course, art events, music events,
and research paper are not leveled, so Joe's ability to enter those
events this year and in subsequent years is not affected by this
rule.) This is a lot for Joe and his teacher to keep track of from
year to year, which is why we discourage it.
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Example 2
("up-entering" to the Advantaged Level): Sally is enrolled in
German III and is not really an Advantaged Speaker, but for whatever
reason, the teacher wants to enter her in Prose Memory Advantaged this
year. This means that, this year and in all subsequent years, she may
enter ONLY events that Advantaged students are allowed to enter. She
may not, for instance, enter Culture 3, Duet Acting Upper Level, or
Sight Reading 3 this year. She is, in effect, now an Advantaged
Speaker and excluded from all non-advantaged events from now on. (Of
course, Advantaged Speakers are allowed to enter a number of
non-language-based cultural events, so her ability to enter those
events this year and in subsequent years is not affected by this
rule.)
-
Example 3
(illustrating the "drama exception"): Henry is enrolled in German
II this year and plans to enter Directed Dialogue 2, Poetry Reading 2, and
Vocabulary 2 (i.e., he plans to enter events at his enrolled
level, Level 2). However, the group that is trying to pull together a
Level 3 Skit is desperate for 1 more cast member and absolutely no one
else in the German III class is willing to join the cast, so they ask
Henry to join their skit.
Additionally, a German III student who desperately wants to enter Duet
Acting Upper Level can't find a partner in the German III class or the
German IV class, so she asks Henry to partner with her. Henry may participate in the Level 3 Skit and
the
Upper Level Duet Acting entry this year in order to help fill out
those events with no consequences for the
other events that he is allowed to enter this year (he can still enter
everything else at his true level, Level 2) or in subsequent years
(next year, when he's in German III, he can enter everything at Level 3, including even Skit 3
and Duet Acting Upper Level, the things in which he "up-entered" this
year, provided of course that next year's Skit and Duet Acting scripts
are different from the ones he performed this year). We didn't use
Puppet Show in the specific examples, but the same principle applies
to Puppet Show as well. The rationale here is that we want to do
everything possible to promote drama entries. Note, however, that
"down-entering" is never allowed, e.g., a German II student
would not be allowed to join a Level 1 Skit to help fill out the cast.
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All participants in Houstonfest are
responsible for taking care of and keeping up with their own belongings. Neither the host school (Kingwood High School), its German teacher
David Kniess, Houstonfest, Houstonfest director Rustin Buck, the
Houstonfest steering committee, the umbrella organization Texas
State German Contests, Inc., nor its steering committee
is
responsible for items lost or left behind at the contest, especially including
art entries not claimed at the end of the contest day.
- 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 7, 2026 Where
is Houstonfest?
Kingwood High School
2701 Kingwood Dr.
Kingwood, TX 77339
Link to Texas State German Contest
Texas
State German Contest on Facebook
Texas
State German Contest 40th Anniversary Facebook Group |
