Virtual Event Rules

This event is submitted and judged virtually. The entry is due one week prior to contest day. Websites will be updated each year to reflect the submission due dates.  Instructions for uploading the entry will be published on the contest website and/or distributed to teachers each year.

Entry Limit:  Two entries per school; may be an individual or group project

Size Limits and Formats:  1 – 2 megabytes; 2400 x 2000 px;  .jpg, .gif, or .pdf

The logo must be German-related and some element of the design must relate to German contest. The logo may be animated or still. All images within the design must be original artwork and/or photos designed by or taken by the contestant(s). Image(s) taken from Internet or any other source is unacceptable. Contestant(s) may use pictures they have taken from prior contest years; however, no student faces may be visible. Photos of the various stages of creation and design by contestant(s) must be included. Any words, except for the contest name, must be in German.

The 1st Place logo from each regional contest and the Texas State German Contest will become the official logo of that contest for the following year. It may be used for print and digital material, including the contest website. Thus, if incorporating a year into the logo (it is not required), use the next year, e.g., at the 2040 contest, use the year 2041 if you use any year at all. State qualifiers are encouraged to adapt their regional design to reflect the State contest. Contestant(s) should NOT include their name(s) or school in the image of the logo itself.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Digital Logo Design.

This event is submitted and judged virtually. The entry is due one week prior to contest day. Websites will be updated each year to reflect the submission due dates.  Instructions for uploading the entry will be published on the contest website and/or distributed to teachers each year.

Entry Limit: Three photo essays per school; may be an individual or group project. Only one photo essay per school may go on to State.

Photo Limits: 10 – 20 photos

Format: .pdf

Contestant(s) will write an original story in German to accompany a series of photographs. The story may not be taken in whole or in part from any print or online source, and no advantaged or native speakers may assist with the writing of the story. Photos must be originals taken by the contestant(s). Photos may be either black-and-white or color, or a combination of both. Any size photo is acceptable. The photos may concern any subject, but the part of the story telling what is happening in each photo should be displayed directly under/over/next to the photo.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Photo Essay.

Submission Process:

You may choose one of two methods for assembling the photo essay: arrange the photos and captions digitally in Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc. OR mount the photos and captions physically on a poster board (22″ x 28″, no larger, no smaller) and then take a picture of the entire poster, as well as individual pictures of the photos and captions and then assemble these pictures in Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc.

With either method, you must add a title slide with your name(s), school, the event “Photo Essay,” and the title of the project. Convert this file to a single PDF and upload it according to the instructions provided.

The first page of the PDF must include your name(s), school, the name of the event (“Photo Essay”), and the title of your entry. Subsequent pages should contain your pictures and accompanying story.

Preparation Tip: Students, you should come up with the original wording, but it is suggested that you have a more-experienced speaker (teacher, exchange student, German speaker from the community, etc) check it for grammar and syntax.

  This event is submitted and judged virtually. The entry is due one week prior to contest day. Websites will be updated each year to reflect the submission due dates.  Instructions for uploading the entry will be published on the contest website and/or distributed to teachers each year. 

Entry Limit: 2 entries per school: Level 4 & Advantaged only (EXCEPTION: If a school has no Level 4 students or advantaged speakers attending the contest, Level 3 contestants may enter, but with the understanding that they will be competing against Level 4 contestants)

Presentation Time Limits: 2-4 minutes; total time allotted is 10 minutes, including set-up and take-down of visuals

The contestant gives a prepared presentation based on a provided picture prompt. The picture will be posted on the contest website by December 1 each year and will relate to some current cultural topic. The
presentation must compare cultural perspectives between one or more German-speaking countries and your own region, related to the topic suggested by the picture. Contestant may use notes (maximum 10 bullet points, maximum 5 words per bullet), but the presentation is otherwise memorized. The presentation may be accompanied by a visual component (picture cards, poster, photo story, images on a tablet or laptop), but the visuals cannot include any words. Note: Contestant and notecards must remain fully in view of the camera for the entire presentation, so if close-ups of visuals are necessary, the contestant must make sure he/she is still 100% visible. The video may not cut back and forth between the contestant and visuals.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Oral Presentation.

Submission Process:

1. Record yourself (or have someone record you) giving your presentation.  You may do as many “takes” as you want until you’re satisfied with the result, but the submitted recording must be a single continuous unedited take, not a spliced-together compilation of the best parts of multiple takes. (See rules above regarding use of visuals.)
2. If notes were used, hold the note card(s) up to the camera for at least 5 seconds (each) at the end of the presentation so that the judges can get a good look at it (them). The time it takes to display the note cards does not count toward the time limit.
3. Upload the video of your presentation to YouTube or Vimeo.
4. Create a single Word document or Google Doc with your name, your school, an image (or images) of your “visual component” if you used one, and a hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo recording. **If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect your video, include the password with the hyperlink in the document.
5. Convert this document to a PDF file and upload it according to the instructions provided. Do NOT upload the video itself; the judges will access your video via the link that you include on the document.

2026 Picture click here to view

This event is submitted and judged virtually. The entry is due one week prior to contest day. Websites will be updated each year to reflect the submission due dates.  Instructions for uploading the entry will be published on the contest website and/or distributed to teachers each year.

Entry Limit: 3 contestants per event (Poetry & Prose), per level (Levels 1, 2, 3 & 4), per school

Length and Time Limits:

• Level 1:  16-24 lines OR 1-2 min.
• Level 2:  20-32 lines OR 1.5-2.5 min.
• Levels 3 & 4:  24-46 lines OR 2-3 min.

The selection must be by a German-speaking author, i.e., originally published in German.  It may not be a translation from a non-German speaking author, even if it has been published, but it may be by a non-German who writes in German, e.g., Kishon. Piece may be edited to fit time or line limits.  Poetry/Prose Reading is judged on the basis of reading and not on any interpretation by the contestant, other than the use of voice changes, eye contact, facial expressions, and some use of hands.  No props or costumes may be used.  The contestant may not walk around.  The title of the selection and the author must be listed along with the name of the student performing it on the alphabetical student list at the time of registration.  

Prose Reading selections may not be used as Prose Memory selections or vice versa by the same person. A student also may not perform the same poem or prose selection that he/she has performed in any previous year.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Poetry Reading.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Prose Reading.

Submission Process:

1. Record yourself reading the selection (or have someone else record you). Don’t forget to say the title and author. You may do as many “takes” as you want until you’re satisfied with the result, but the submitted recording must be a single continuous unedited take, not a spliced-together compilation of the best parts of multiple takes.
2. Upload the video of your reading to YouTube or Vimeo.
3. Create a single Word document or Google Doc, etc. with the full text of the selection, including title and author.  To get the text of your reading selection into the document, you can cut and paste it if you have access to an electronic version of the piece or simply take a (clear!) picture or pictures of the text if you are working from a hard copy and paste the picture(s) into the document.
4. Include a title page with your name, your school, the name and level of the event, e.g., “Poetry Reading 2,” and a hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo recording. **If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect your video, include the password with the hyperlink in the document.
5. Convert this document to a PDF file and upload it according to the instructions provided. Do NOT upload the video itself; the judges will access your video via the link that you include in the PDF.

Preparation Tips: Practice speaking confidently! Have your copy of your piece in a sturdy folder so you’re not standing there holding a floppy piece of paper. Make sure to SAY THE TITLE AND AUTHOR before you start reciting, and try to make at least occasional eye contact with the camera during your piece.

Teacher Tips:

• Create a collection of suitable poems and prose pieces.  Number the lines on each piece.  Arrange your collection by length, if you print them and put them in a binder. If you judge one of these categories at contest, keep your judges’ copies for your bank!
• Build a collection of digital recordings of the pieces, either read by you or a native speaker. You can use Audacity or another recording software. One suggestion is that when making a recording, first read the piece through once “normally,” then go through the entire piece explaining the literal meaning and any insights you have about interpretation plus highlighting common pronunciation pitfalls, then read it a second time very slowly and distinctly, and finally read it a third time as dramatically as you can.
• Meet individually with students to listen to them recite their pieces and/or have them record it for you digitally. 

Here are some examples of useful anthologies or sources of German poetry:

• The Penguin Book of German Verse, ed. Leonard Forster, ISBN 0-14-058546-X
• Deutsche Gedichte: Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Benno von Wiese, ISBN 3-464-57000-2 (Cornelsen)
• Listen & Enjoy German Poetry (book and CD), ISBN 978-0486996721
• This site has several modern authors and each includes a pdf version of a Leseprobe as well. http://www.litrix.de/buecher/belletristik/deindex.htm

Many thanks to Christopher Wickham and Silke Schade, UTSA and Evelyn Saucier, retired from Westwood HS, for compiling the following list of ideas. 

Poetry Level 1:

• Der Panther (Reading)
• Einen Brief soll ich schreiben  (Reading)
• Sachliche Romanze (Reading)
• Fallersleben: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (Memory)
• Du (Memory)
• Erziehung (Memory)

Poetry Level 2 or 3:

• Heine: Sie saßen und tranken am Teetisch
• Hofmannsthal: Was ist die Welt?
• Rilke: Herbsttag
• Lasker-Schüler: Mein blaues Klavier
• Van Hoddis: Weltende
• Kästner: Sachliche Romanze
• Der erste Schnee (Reading – Level 2)
• Mein  Kind (Reading – Level 2)
• Hund und Katze (Reading – Level 2)
• Max und Moritz  (Memory – Level 2)
• Wer sagt das Mädchen (Memory – Level 2)
• Mein Bär (Memory – Level 2)
• Mein Berlin  (Reading – Level 3)
• Wiegenlied  (Reading – Level 3)
• Nachtgedanken  (Reading – Level 3)
• Mein Kind wir waren Kinder   (Memory – Level 3)
• Traum und Leben   (Memory – Level 3)
• Der Werwolf   (Memory – Level 3)

Poetry Level 4:

• Heine: Die Wanderratten
• Bachmann: Nebelland
• Trakl: De Profundis
• Droste: Am Turme
• Die Granadiere (Reading)
• Handstand auf der Lorelei  (Reading)
• Handschuh  (Reading)
• Das Karussell (Memory)
• Die Teilung der Erde (Memory)
• Willkommen und Abschied (Memory)

Here are some examples of useful anthologies or sources of German prose:

• Kurzgeschichten (Cideb), ISBN 978-88-530-0052-1
• Lesehefte: 55 gewöhnliche und ungewöhnliche, auf jeden Fall aber kurze and Kürzestgeschichten (Klett), ISBN 3-12-261070-1
• Collections of short stories by Franz Hohler or Heinrich Hannover
• The following link has a list and articles about several new(er) German authors. The articles will give teachers an idea what to expect, and a link at the bottom of each article often include a Leseprobe. http://www.goethe.de/ins/eg/prj/mal/jda/dtl/deindex.htm

Many thanks to Christopher Wickham and Silke Schade, UTSA and Evelyn Saucier, retired from Westwood HS, for compiling the following list of ideas. 

Prose Level 1:

• Grimm: Der süße Brei
• Grimm: Die Sterntaler
• Bichsel: Der Milchmann
• Özdamar: Ein japanisches Sprichwort sagt…
• Purzelhans (Reading)
• Der süße Brei  (Reading)
• Der Bauer und der Esel (Reading)
• Der  Schulinspector zu Besuch (Memory)
• Der Bauer und der Dieb (Memory)
• Alis Probleme (Memory)

Prose Level 2:

• Ein schlechter Tag (Reading)
• Friedrich und der Kaffee (Reading)
• Friedrich der Große und Mendelssohn  (Reading)
• Friedrich der Große  (Memory)
• Kannitverstan  (Memory)
• Münchhausens Abenteuer  (Memory)

Prose Level 3:

• Emil  (Reading)
• Der König von Sachsen  (Reading)
• Das Loch im Strumpf (Reading)
• Der Arzt erzählt  (Memory)
• Gutes Wort, Böse Tat   (Memory)
• Schildbürger und Dummheiten   (Memory)

Prose Level 4:

• Das steinerne Brot  (Reading)
• Der Bauer und der Teufel  (Reading)
• Das Verlorene Gesicht  (Reading)
• Sterntaler  (Memory)
• Martin Luther  (Memory)
• Wie Eulenspiegel auf dem Seil lief  (Memory)

This event is submitted and judged virtually. The entry is due one week prior to contest day. Websites will be updated each year to reflect the submission due dates.  Instructions for uploading the entry will be published on the contest website and/or distributed to teachers each year. 

Entry Limit: One video per school. At least 6 contestants must be included in the video.

Time Limits:  6 – 15 minutes

Format: .pdf

The video may be an original screenplay or a documentary and may not include animation. This may not be a video of one of your school’s drama entries (puppet show, skit, etc.). All dialogue must be in German. Judging includes originality, German dialogue, and the professional quality of the video presentation. Creativity is encouraged.

Click here to download the critique sheet for Video Show.

Submission Process:

1. Upload the finished video to YouTube or Vimeo.
2. Type the script in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.
3. Create a title page with the student names, school, title of the video, and the YouTube/Vimeo hyperlink to the video. **If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect your video, include the password along with the hyperlink.
4. Convert the document to a PDF and upload it according to the instructions provided. Do NOT upload the video itself; the judges will access your video via the link that you include on the title page.

Preparation Tip: Students, you should come up with the original wording, but it is suggested that you have a more-experienced speaker (teacher, exchange student, German speaker from the community, etc) check it for grammar and syntax.