UIL academics competitions are contests that test the brain power of its participants. Academic
competitions can be further divided into five sub-categories: general academics, STEM, theatre,
speech & debate, and journalism. These competitions can take place over the course of several
days and can last for hours at a time.

“It is a statewide organization for that is our governing body for athletics for basically anything
that is competitive,” Mr. Nassif, head of CLHS academic UIL department said. “Athletics and fine
arts has some UIL activities, but there’s also academic activities and that’s what I oversee.”

General academics competitions include accounting, computer applications, current issues &
events, essay contests, literary criticism, ready writing, social studies, and spelling & vocabulary.
All general academics competitions are timed contests, meaning everyone has the same
amount of time to complete a task.

“We have a weekend, normally in March or in April where we get together, and we have
competitions over various things.” Mr. Nassif said.

STEM competitions include Calculator applications, computer science, mathematics, number
sense, robotics, and science. All STEM Competitions are tests except for robotics and computer
science. Computer science is a written exam, and robotics is a competition.

Theatre contests consist of only film, one act plays, and theatrical design. One act play can only
compete against similarly sized schools in playing in any play chosen by the contestants. Film
and theatrical design are standard contests.

Speech & debate competitions include Extemporaneous speaking, oral interpretation, debate,
and congress. Speech & debate competitions are speeches and debates given in a contest
format.

Journalism competitions include editorial writing, feature writing, news writing, headline
writing, and copy editing. Journalism competitions consist of drafting an article or headline in a
contest.

If any of these contests sound interesting contact Mr. Nassif for academic competitions but
your general coaches can point you towards the correct coach for any competition.

For more information about any of these competitions, contact Mr. Nassif or the coaches of
each competition.

Source:

UIL Texas