If you are a Junior or Senior in high school, this event is for you!

Since 2001, we have hosted Houston Area GIS Day for high school students like you. On average, we bring 300 students and teachers to each event. Here is what you can expect when you attend Houston Area GIS Day:

• Play Games & Win Prizes
• Attend GIS Presentations
• Watch Live Demos & Exercises
• Meet College Recruiters

Compete in the GIS Student Essay and Story map Contest

Essay

• Essay Topic
  Write an essay that specifies how GIS is or was used to identify a problem, monitor change, respond to an event, or understand a trend. Explain how GIS has made an impact in today's world.
• Deadline
  Nov. 8th by 5pm
• Procedures and Rules
  
  • Each student must be sponsored by a teacher.
  • Teachers should submit their sponsored entries HoustonAreaGISDayOrg@gmail.com via email with the subject line "2026 Houston Area GIS Essay Contest Submission"
  • Teachers are limited to sponsor three (3) students per school.
  • Students must attend a high school within the Houston Area. This includes high schools within the following counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton.
  • Students must be a high school junior or senior (grades 11-12).
  • Each student is limited to submit one (1) essay.
  • The essay should be between 500 to 600 words in length.
  • A cover page should be included with each essay and will not count towards the 500 word limit.
  • The cover page should include the following information:
    • Student First and Last Name
    • School Classification (junior or senior)
    • School Name
    • School Address (street, city, state, and zip)
    • Sponsoring Teacher’s First and Last Name
    • Sponsoring Teacher's Email Address
    • Sponsoring Teacher's Phone Number
• Essay Criteria
  The essays will be judged by a panel of GIS professionals. They will judge each essay based on the following:
  • Quality of Composition (25%)
  • Appropriate Use of the Topic (50%)
  • Creativity & Originality (25%)

Story map

• Story map Topic
  Do your own GIS analysis on a topic of your choosing. Must be Houston-region related, this includes the following counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton.
  
  Examples of Topics:
  • "Compare infrastructure of any two areas in Houston region/area, and do analysis on which area is more developed?"
  • "Choose any area in Houston region/area and try to determine green (Trees, parks, trails, fields, and agriculture, etc) areas"
  
  
• Deadline
  Nov. 8th by 5pm
• Procedures and Rules
  
  • Each student must be sponsored by a teacher.
  • Teachers should submit their sponsored entries via email to HoustonAreaGISDayOrg@gmail.com with the subject line "2026 Houston Area GIS StoryMap Contest Submission"
  • Teachers are limited to sponsor three (3) students per school.
  • Students must attend a high school within the Houston Area. This includes high schools within the following counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton.
  • Students must be a high school junior or senior (grades 11-12).
  • Teams of two are accepted. Only one StoryMap submission is required.
• Story map Criteria
  • Informative
    • Topic is clearly stated and focused on the Houston region
      • This includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton counties
    • Appropriate use of grammar and spelling
    • Content is understandable and on topic
  • Map-centric vs photo centric
    • Restrictions:
      • At least one (1) map created by the student
      • No more than 2 pictures not created by the student
        o Exceptions could be made if pictures were collected as part of the project
      • ** If maps and/or pictures not created by the student are used, full credit must be given to the author**
    • Every map is required to have GIS elements (legend, title, scale, north arrow, etc.)
  • Original work
    • Sources are listed
    • Citation Map Format: Map Author. Map title [format]. Scale. Place of publication: Publisher, Date.
    • Citation For pictures format: Artist’s Last Name, First Name (if any). “Title of the Picture.” Title of the Site, Date, URL. Accessed Date. (MLA format)
    • Any work not created by the student, must be cited and full credit must be given to the author
  • One type of GIS analysis
    • For example:
      • Classification
      • Symbolization
      • Filtering
      • Geoanalysis
  
  
  
• Story map Resources
  • Nine Steps to Great Storytelling
    https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/429bc4eed5f145109e603c9711a33407
  • 2022 ESRI Arc GIS StoryMap Competition Winners
    https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-storymaps/contest/gallery/2022-winners
  • Bruce/Grey StoryMap Contest has great resources and tutorial videos
    https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/180413632cba4a60b487964fd8b037e8
  • ArcGIS Online Competition Winners (MS and HS Students)
    https://agoschoolcomp-education.hub.arcgis.com/pages/results
  
  
  
• Prizes
  The winning essays will be announced during the closing session of the in-person Houston Area GIS Day event. The prize will be provided as a gift card. If the students are present at the in-person event, they will be handed the prize directly. If the students are not present at the in-person event, the prizes will be sent to the school in-care-of the sponsoring teacher.