Competitive Events

Overview

The Competition page is where you configure the competitive events offered at a conference, define scoring rubrics, manage which members are entered into events, browse uploaded entry files, and view online exam access keys. Access it by clicking the Competition card from a conference's detail page.

The page is organized into tabs:

• Competitive Events — the event catalog
• Event Rubrics — scoring rubric definitions
• Event Entries — member and team entries into events
• File Browser — uploaded entry files (when S3 storage is enabled)
• Exam Access Keys — secure keys for exam-based events

Competitive Events

Competitive events define the contests participants can enter at a conference. Each event has a name, abbreviation code, type (Individual or Team), category, and per-chapter limits. You can create new events, edit existing events, and delete events that are no longer needed.

Creating a Competitive Event

Basic Information

1. Navigate to your conference and click the Competition card
2. On the Competitive Events tab, click Add Event
3. In the event detail popup, fill in:
   • Name — the event's full name
   • Abbreviation — a short code (e.g., "PBP" for Personal Business Plan)
   • Category/Event Type — Enter a category for this event, such as "Entrepreneurship Events".
   • Long Description — a longer description of the event, including rules and requirements. (optional)
   • Type — Select "Individual" or "Team". Team events can be configured with multiple participants per entry, where Individual events are limited to only a single participant per entry.
   • Level — Select "National" or "State". This is used for your internal tracking and reporting, especially if you have some events which are not available at the national level.
   • Min Per Chapter and Max Per Chapter — how many entries each chapter can submit.
4. Click Save to create the event, or continue with configuring additional event-specific information.

Additional Options

Continue with configuring "Additional Options" as needed:

• Event Fee — If you'd like to charge a separate fee per entry for this event, enter the amount here.
• Event Capacity — If you'd like to limit the number of entries that can be submitted for this event, enter the maximum number here. This number is "per-entry", not "per-participant" or "per-chapter".
• Require Grade — If you'd like to require a grade level for this event, enter the grade level here.
• STS Exam — If you'd like to use CTSO Central's Secure Testing System (STS) for this event, select the exam you'd like to use for this event. If you don't link an exam, exam keys won't be generated for this event, and you can conduct testing via your own means (paper/pencil, scantron, or your own custom exam delivery system).
• Exam Name — If you have not linked an STS exam, but would like to enter the name of the exam students will take for tracking purposes, enter that here.
• Lock Event — You may wish to restrict certain events so that entries can only be added/edited/deleted by conference administrators. If you'd like this event to be locked, check the box.
• Does Not Count — If you'd like to exclude this event from the maximum number of events a student may enter, check this box.
• Invisible — If you'd like to hide this event from the event catalog, check the box. This is useful for special events such as special delegates or student officer elections.

Scoring

To set up your scoring options, click the Scoring tab. You can configure the following:

• Scoring Categories — configure the scoring categories for this event. To add a category, click on the Add Category button and fill in the details:
  • Name — The category name, such as "Exam" or "Presentation".
  • Type — Select the type of category. You can select from "Exam", "Performance", "Written", "Oral", or "Custom".
  • Max Score — The maximum score for this category.
  • Event Rubric — Select the event rubric to use for this category. If you don't have a rubric yet, you can create one by clicking the Create Rubric button on the main page of Competitive Events. You can always come back and edit this later.
  • Uploads — If you would like to allow participants to upload files for this category, check the box. You can configure the maximum number of uploads, the maximimum file size, allowed file types, and special instructions. If you have configured AI content and plagiarism detection for your conference, you can also turn on those features here and select the thresholds you wish to flag for each.
  • Timing — If you would like to configure custom timing for this category, check the box. Otherwise, it will inherit the global timing settings for this event. You can configure the timing for the category, such as "Hold Time", "Travel Time", "Prep Time", "Travel to Present Time", "Present Time", and "Judge Time".
• Upload Deadline — Once you have configured any category to accept file uploads, you can configure the deadline for this event. After this date and time has passed, uploads will no longer be accepted in the system. Administrators can still manually upload files after the deadline if needed.
• Timing — Timing settings are used for generating schedules for this event.You can configure the timing for the event globally, such as "Hold Time", "Travel Time", "Prep Time", "Travel to Present Time", "Present Time", and "Judge Time".

Event Rubrics

The Event Rubrics tab lets you define scoring rubrics for competitive events. Rubrics specify the criteria and point scales judges use when scoring entries.

You can create rubrics manually, duplicate existing ones, or import rubrics by uploading a PDF and using the parse presets to extract criteria automatically.

Event Entries

The Event Entries tab manages which members and teams are entered into competitive events.

Creating an Entry

1. Switch to the Event Entries tab
2. Click Add Entry (or the plus icon)
3. Select:
   • Competitive Event — which event to enter
   • Chapter — the chapter submitting the entry (auto-selected for Chapter Admins)
   • Members — the individual or team members for this entry
4. Save the entry

Viewing and Filtering Entries

Entries can be viewed in either card or table mode using the toggle in the upper right. Both views support:

• Filtering by chapter and by competitive event
• Searching by member name
• Sorting by event, chapter, participants, status, submission date, or attached files
• Pagination for large entry lists

For events that require file submissions, expand an entry to upload files directly. The upload section supports drag-and-drop or click-to-browse.

File Browser

When enabled, the File Browser tab provides a centralized view of all uploaded entry files for the conference. This is useful for administrators who need to review or download submissions across multiple events and chapters.

Exam Access Keys

For events delivered as secure exams, the Exam Access Keys tab lets administrators generate, view, and manage access keys. These keys are required for test takers to start an exam session.

You can filter keys by event, copy keys to the clipboard, and revoke or regenerate keys as needed.