Competition Rules and Recommendations
(updated 9/26/2013)
Procedural Information
Registering to compete at Regional
1. Check the website for all the competition dates to determine which Regional you will
attend. Next, send that chairperson an email to request to reserve your place. Some
Regional sites have become very crowded, so reserve your spot ASAP. Email your
regional chair and copy the email to Registration Coordinator Mia van der Paardt and to
State VAC Chair Elizabeth Schlieger with the region they intend to participate in. All
regional chairs emails addresses are listed on the WAEA website in the documents
section of the VAC portion of the WAEA website. This will allow all of us know who is
involved at the regional level and allow the state chair and co-chair to have all of the
contact information of all coaches, making communications prior to state unproblematic.
2. Download and print the current Team Registration Form on the WAEA website, and
follow the steps to send in your registration and fee. When and only when your
chairperson receives your check and confirms your membership, you will be sent the
long-term problems.
3. Registration fees: 12 member team fee is $125, 6 member team is $65.
4. Note that registration mailed after January 1 are assessed an additional $25 late fee. (i.e.
$150 for a full team or $90 for a half team.)
5. No registration or refunds after February 1st.
6. No refunds on partial teams of either 12 or 6 after registration deadline.
7. PLEASE DO NOT share the long term prompts with any other school district.
(Registration/payment/WAEA membership confirmation must be properly completed
before schools receive the prompts. Once this process is complete schools will get the
prompts swiftly. PLEASE respect this process. Thank you so much. Only the State
Chair or registration person may hand out the prompts). If you need clarification about
any of the prompts, please contact Libby Hansen at waeavacpromptchair@gmail.com
8. NOTE: VAC is not intended to be used for regular classroom curriculum; it is an
extracurricular activity to enhance the lives of students outside the school day. All
projects are intended to be completed outside the school day. Students may utilize a study
hall to complete their VAC project.
Prior to the Regional Competition
1. A team is made up of no more than 12 students. A school may register a half team of no
more than 6 students, but in terms of scoring overall points it is advantageous to have 12
members.
2. Only one team per school.
3. There are 11 studio categories, (drawing, painting, ceramics, personal adornment, art
history, sculpture, photography, digital photography, video, printmaking, and computer
graphics). Team members select a category in which to compete, design, and create a
piece of artwork in response to its long-term problem.
4. Teams are limited to 2 students in a studio category. It is understood that a team might
not have members participate in every category- especially if their school does not have
the facilities for it, (i.e., if students do not have access to a darkroom, the team probably
won’t have a participant in traditional photography).
5. In the studio areas, team members compete individually. In the team events Critical
Thinking and Quiz Bowl students will compete as a team.
6. A school may select a maximum of 3 students to serve as alternates. An alternate may
only replace a missing team member (i.e. illness, funeral, needing to leave due to another
obligation, etc.), at a Regional or State meet. Alternates may help the coach by acting as
a ‘go-fer’ for the team, taking photographs of the competition for their team, etc. (This is
a nice way to expose them to the VAC experience.)
7. When designing solutions to the problems, if referencing an artist, use only those selected
for the current year’s VAC.
8. One Visual Arts teacher from each school should be designated as head coach; this
individual must be a current member of the Wisconsin Art Education Association. Other
teachers or parents may assist the coach. Parents or other staff members are encouraged
to accompany the team to regional and state competitions, and may be used as proctors.
9. The school assumes all responsibility for the team and teacher, not WAEA.
10. Standard district or school release forms are the responsibility of each coach.
11. Competitors must adhere to the precise requirements for each problem established by the
VAC committee. Failure to do so will result in the loss of points on the student’s final
score. Be sure to read each problem carefully, including media and size limitations.
12. To create a safe work environment we do not allow toxic or harmful tools/ materials. No
rubber cement, solvent markers or sprays, propane torches, bodily fluids and/or materials
from humans or animals, etc.
13. As each school registers, it is assigned a letter and each student will be given an
accompanying identification number. These will be used on all labeling of works and
lists of participants for both regional and state competitions. Each team member needs to
know their team letter and their own number.
14. Identification name tags are 4” x 6” and available here. Please follow all directions
regarding placement of tag.
15. Intent narratives and identification labels must be securely attached to the work. It
may not be possible to score the work if any of these items are missing.
16. There is also a registration form for the team on the website. It lists all studio categories
with a spot for the student’s name. Please type in all of your team’s information, print this
form, and complete it prior to arriving at the competition. Each coach will need to
preregister for both the regional and state competitions. Each regional chair will be
requesting final registrations shortly before the competition and the state chair will be
requesting final registrations shortly before the state competition. By preregistering the
teams via email for both competitions coaches are helping to ensure that there will be
work space and adequate numbers of judges for each studio category. Each coach will
also need to print out a hard copy of your registration for both regional and state
competitions.
17. Prior to arriving at a meet, coaches should discuss expectations around the issues relative
to judging. These might include understanding that the judge is another individual who
has assessed the student’s work in addition to their teacher. They need not agree with the
judging results, but they need to recognize and accept graciously that this is another
means of assessment.
For the Critical Thinking Problem, bring a 12-15 foot length of white roll paper and nontoxic colored markers.
For the Quiz Bowl, bring 35 6” x 18-24” paper strips and a dark colored marker. It is
helpful if one is already labeled with your school’s name on it.
*Remember, NO artist’s names are to be written on paper strips prior to the competition. Please
be honest.
At the Regional Competition
1. No cell phones may be used or handled during any competition event. Failure to follow
this rule will result in disqualification of the student (individual event) or the team (team
event). Furthermore, it is requested that students turn off their cell phones and turn them
over to their coach.
2. Registration forms and identification labels are available for print from the website.
These should be completed prior to the registration at regional site.
3. If needed, spare registration forms and identification labels will be available at the
registration table for competition. This should be done soon after arrival. It is
advantageous for the coach of each team to be organized and prepared as it saves time for
the people running the regional and allows your students to get to work right away in
their studio areas. Please have your new typed registration completed prior to arriving at
Regional or State.
4. Each team member will bring his/her completed long-term project to their designated
studio area, for display and judging. Directions will be provided.
5. Each team member will bring his/her materials and tools to their assigned studio room
(illegal, unethical, dangerous or (inappropriate materials will not be allowed). Most
students keep track of their supplies, but teams should label tools and equipment with the
school name.
6. If possible, students should be set up their supplies and tools in the studio room 10
minutes prior to the competition time. They should be ready to work at least 5 minutes
prior to the meet time.
7. Neither teachers nor alternates can assist the students once the competition begins.
8. Resource materials, books, notes, prints, and/or prior sketches are not allowed in the
studio room during the competition (unless specifically asked for in the problem);
students should only bring the materials listed in their area. Blank drawing or sketching
paper is allowed. Students may share tools/ materials with another school who forgot
theirs.
9. Alternates may assist in helping with supplies and watching the process, but may not be
in conversation with the team member during the competition itself. Division 3, 4, & 5
schools (due to their size) are allowed up to two 8th graders on VAC school teams.
10. Coaches or an adult representative will be assigned as proctors for the various studio and
team activities. Instructions will be given on-site.
11. Students need to remain quiet while working on their on-site projects, so as not to disturb
the other people in the room. Students may listen to music on iPod like devices (NOT on
their cell phones) as long as the music is quiet and not disturbing others. Video games
are not allowed.
12. Students will write a brief statement (three sentences minimum) about their on-site work,
label it with their ID letter and number, and leave it with the completed problem for
judging.
13. Students are expected to use all/most of their work-time for on-sites. Students who end
very early and play video games, read, or simply walk out before the designated time are
not considered to be taking this competition seriously and will be disqualified.
14. Students are to be in the studio rooms to participate in the critique sessions with the judge
for both long-term and on-site problems at the designated time.
15. Due to the full schedule, the lunch break may be short. It is recommended that students
bring a bag lunch or have an alternative purchase their lunch prior to the lunch break and
bring it to the space designed for eating. (Keep track of times on the schedule.)
16. At the end of the studio work time, alternates should help get their team members
materials and d tools packed for later movement to the bus. It is expected that the rooms
be left immaculate by having every school do their part to clean up.
17. The Teams will get the Critical Thinking Problems at lunch time. Judges will observe the
group’s process as well as the final results and the presentations of the group’s solutions.
All materials and tools are to be packed up when the presentations begin.
18. The Quiz Bowl is also a team competition. There will be no reference materials, books,
printouts, or cards etc. allowed. Teams should have everything packed away except for
6” x 18-24” sheets of paper, with the teams name and a stack of 6” x 18-24” sheets to
write answers on. Teams are allowed ample time to write answers and will have a
countdown so that all teams raise their answers at the same time.
Regional Competition Results
1. Teams accumulate points for individual work (long and short term solutions), the team’s
critical thinking problem, and the quiz bowl. The teams with the most points win first,
seconds, and third place trophies. Students receive first, second, third, or honorable
mention ribbons in their categories.
2. Prior to judging, the long-term artwork will be checked for adherence to specificationssize, materials, tagging, etc. Points will be deducted for not following specifications.
3. Judging is the responsibility of those invited to do so. No one is to interfere with this
process at any time. Current teachers and coaches are not permitted to be judges.
(Regional chairs may use retired teachers as judges) Teachers and students are not
allowed in the rooms while judging is taking place. The student may not agree with the
results, but must abide by them. However if, there seems to be an honest clerical
mistake, see your chairperson immediately.
4. The entire first place team (highest overall score) at the Regional advances to the State
competition. First place teams in Critical Thinking and the Quiz Bowl advance to State
to compete in those areas. Any student scoring a first place in their on-site will advance
to State competition to compete in that area. Long-term first place artworks are brought
to State for judging at that level, but these students do not compete on-site at State.
Students may make MINOR adjustments to their long-term pieces prior to State PER
THE JUDGES SUGGESTIONS, but may NOT start over on their long-term piece or
make any dramatic changes. First place winners at State receive medallions suitable for a
letter jacket.
5. In the unlikely event that a Long Term studio project is stolen from a Regional
competition after the judging, it will be at the discretion of the VAC State leadership
team to decide whether the project will need to be recreated prior to the State
Competition. Each Regional Chair Person should assign someone to watch over the long
term projects when other events such as Critical Thinking, Quiz Bowl, and Awards take
teams and coaches away from the artwork.
To New Coaches
Projects are displayed without names, and the Critical Thinking and Quiz Bowl sections are done
as team problems. The entire process is positive and nonthreatening. Relax and enjoy the event.
It’s about learning and experiencing. Good luck and see you there!
Artists and Cultures as References
An in-depth study of artists and cultures, the periods in which they lived, their lives, works,
major concepts/ directions, and influenced is required to fully incorporate art history, criticism,
and aesthetic understanding to the making of art which is central to this process. This knowledge
is also necessary for successfully competing on-site in the team Critical Thinking Problem and
the Art History Quiz Bowl.
This process can be made much easier by having one team member take one artist for an indepth study and sharing the information gained with the rest of the team. After doing research,
ask your students to formulate several questions along with the answers, which can be submitted
for use in the Quiz Bowl. If you send in questions, you’ll know the answers! Please remember
to cite your sources.
These must be received on or by—Friday January 23, 2015. Please email your student’s art
history questions to the Bowl Chair, Luke Konkol at waeavacquizbowl@gmail.com Please include
the QUESTIONS, ANSWERS, and REFERENCES used. We cannot guarantee that all
questions will be used. There is also a form on the VAC website that can help you with this.