SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

OVERVIEW B. Participants report at the assigned time and place for

Using leadership and 21 century skills, participants their presentation/interview.
apply knowledge of cutting-edge technologies and C. Participants give a live presentation of the functionality
algorithms to design, implement, test, and document a of their project, describe the design process, and
software development project. The project should have discuss the value of the project.
educational or social value. The theme of the current D. Judges will ask at least one question about the
year’s software development project will be posted on project code that participants will need to answer.
the TSA website under Themes & Problems.
E. Participants remove their project and equipment from
the area at the completion of the presentation/interview.
ELIGIBILITY F. Judges evaluate the presentation and interview.
One (1) team per chapter may participate. The
G. A list of twelve (12) seminalist teams (in random order)
presentation/interview is limited to three (3) members.
is posted.

TIME LIMITS SEMIFINAL ROUND

A. A copy of the solution’s code for the chapter’s A. Seminalists report to the event area at the time and
entry (URL or PDF) must be nished, submitted, place stated in the conference program to receive an
and accessible via the Internet by 11:59pm ET on a assigned presentation/interview time.
designated date mid-May.
B. Seminalist presentation/interviews follow the same
B. Up to seven (7) minutes for the presentation, and an procedure as in the preliminary round.
additional three (3) minutes to respond to questions
C. Ten (10) nalists will be announced during the
(i.e., interview).
conference awards ceremony.

ATTIRE REGULATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

TSA competition attire is required for this event.
Students will work to develop their leadership and
21 century skills in the process of preparing for
PROCEDURE and participating in this TSA competitive event. The
PRECONFERENCE development and application of those skills must be
evident in their submission, demonstration, and/or
A. Participants review the TSA Honor Statement for communication pertaining to the entry.
Competitive Events found in the General Rules and
listed in the individual competitive event rules. PRECONFERENCE
B. Participants identify a societal need based on the A. Participants must submit their executable raw code
yearly theme and design a tool (e.g., graphical user online by 11:59pm ET on a designated date mid-May.
interface, dashboard, predictive model, etc.) using B. The code must be submitted as a URL leading the
software of choice that addresses this need. judges to either an online repository (i.e. GitHub) or a
C. Participants prepare for a live presentation/interview link to a PDF of all of their code.
on-site.
PRELIMINARY ROUND
PRELIMINARY ROUND A. Participants report at the time and place stated in the
A. Participants report to the event area at the time and conference program to sign up for a presentation/
place stated in the conference program to sign up for interview time.
a presentation/interview time.

Technology Student Association (TSA) High School Competitive Events Guide for the 2025 and 2026 National TSA Conferences 305
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

B. Participants report at the assigned time and place for G. Teams are judged on the functionality and originality
the presentation/interview. of their project. At a minimum, presentations should
C. Participants must provide all necessary hardware to include:
demonstrate their project during the presentation. 1. the design process
1. This may include a laptop computer (operating 2. end-user applications
solely on battery power) with a computer mouse (if 3. a demonstration
desired) or mobile device(s).
4. information on the design
2. The set-up should not exceed 2' x 2' x 2'.
Refer to the ocial rating form for more information.
D. National TSA will NOT provide wireless Internet.
Students may provide internet access using a hotspot
from a mobile device, however, students should
TSA HONOR STATEMENT
have an alternate presentation plan in case access is All work must be created and completed by individual
unavailable. competitors or teams. Plagiarism, the use of Generative
Articial Intelligence (GenAI) software, copyright violation,
E. A list of twelve (12) seminalists (in random order) is
cheating, and falsication of information are prohibited.
posted.
Participants may NOT use any generative articial
intelligence (GenAI) tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Google Gemini,
SEMIFINAL ROUND GitHub Copilot, etc.). Any attempt to gain an unfair
A. Participants report at the time and place stated in the advantage will not be tolerated. Competitors at any level
conference program to sign up for a presentation/ of TSA competition understand and agree to abide by
interview time. the TSA Honor Statement.
B. Participants report at the assigned time and place for
If it is determined that a student violated the TSA Honor
the presentation/interview.
Statement, a rules violation of twenty percent (20%) will
C. The seminal round will follow all rules and guidelines be incurred.
of the preliminary round.
D. Judges evaluate the presentation/interview.
STEM INTEGRATION
E. The top ten (10) nalists are announced at the awards This event aligns with the STEM (Science, Technology,
ceremony. Engineering, and Mathematics) educational standards.

EVALUATION LEADERSHIP AND 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

PRELIMINARY ROUND This event provides opportunity for students to build
A. The quality of work and develop leadership and 21 century skills including
but not limited to – Communication, Collaboration/Social
B. The overall benet of the work
Skills, Initiative, Problem Solving/Risk Taking, Critical
C. The technical skill exhibited in the project Thinking, Perseverance/Grit, Creativity, Relationship
D. The ability to demonstrate and describe the team’s Building/Teamwork, Dependability/Integrity, and
software design process Flexibility/Adaptability
E. How well the problem identied is solved by the tool
demonstration and relates to the theme CAREERS RELATED TO THIS EVENT
F. The ability to explain portion of their code in the This competition has connections to one (1) or more of
project questioned by the judges. the careers below:
• Graphic designer
• Software engineer

306 Technology Student Association (TSA) High School Competitive Events Guide for the 2025 and 2026 National TSA Conferences
Participant/Team ID# ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������

SOFTWARE Go/No Go Specications

DEVELOPMENT • Before judging the entry, ensure that the items below are
present; indicate presence with a check mark in the box.
• If an item is missing, leave the box next to the item blank
2025 & 2026 OFFICIAL RATING FORM and place a check mark in the box labeled ENTRY NOT

HIGH SCHOOL
EVALUATED.
• If a check mark is placed in the ENTRY NOT EVALUATED
box, the entry is not to be judged.
Judges: Using minimal (1-4 points), adequate (5-8 points), or exemplary (9-10
points) performance levels as a guideline in the rating form, record the Computer hardware is present
scores earned for the event criteria in the column spaces to the right. The
ENTRY NOT EVALUATED
X1 or X2 notation in the criteria column is a multiplier factor for determining
the points earned. (Example: an “adequate” score of 7 for an X1 criterion =
7 points; an “adequate” score of 7 for an X2 criterion = 14 points.) A score of
zero (0) is acceptable if the minimal performance for any criterion is not met.

PROJECT SOLUTION (70 points)

Record scores
spaces below.
in the column
Minimal performance Adequate performance Exemplary performance
CRITERIA
1-4 points 5-8 points 9-10 points

Creativity The project lacks creativity Some elements of the project The project exudes creativity and
(X2) surrounding the current yearly express creativity surrounding the originality surround the current
theme with little original thought in current yearly theme and/or the yearly theme.
developing the project. solution is somewhat original.

Software Coding The project is inadequately The project is developed following The project is extremely
Practices developed in terms of general most general software coding well developed and follows
(X2) software coding practices practices (requirements, design, general software coding
(requirements, design, implementation, and testing). practices (requirements, design,
implementation, and testing). implementation and testing).

Complexity The software design exhibits little The software design exhibits some The software design is complex,
(X2) complexity. degree of complexity. resulting in a highly functional product.

Technical Skill Little technical skill is exhibited in Average technical skill is exhibited in The software exhibits mastery of
(X1) the software; the levels of software the software’s design and construction; software design skill that few at this
development are not uid and/or the software ows somewhat level possess; the software ow is
are illogical. eectively from level to level. constant and logical.

PROJECT SOLUTION SUBTOTAL (70 points)

Technology Student Association (TSA) High School Competitive Events Guide for the 2025 and 2026 National TSA Conferences 307
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

PRESENTATION/INTERVIEW (60 points)

Record scores
spaces below.
in the column
Minimal performance Adequate performance Exemplary performance
CRITERIA
1-4 points 5-8 points 9-10 points

Organization and The team seems unprepared and The team is preparedfor the The team’s presentation is logical,
Knowledge unorganized for the presentation presentation and answers questions organized, and eective; the
(X1) and questions from judges; adequately; all team members have team answers questions logically,
team members have very little a general understanding of the thoughtfully, and with condence;
understanding of the concepts in concepts discussed and answer there is clear evidence that all
their project, and provide vague questions adequately. team members have a thorough
answers to judges’ questions. understanding of the concepts
presented in their project.

Articulation Communication of the solution Communication of the solution The demonstration provides a clear,
(X1) is unclear, unorganized, and or is somewhat logical and clear; concise, and easy-to-follow analysis
illogical; leadership and/or 21 leadership and/or 21 century skills of the solution; leadership and/or 21
century skills are not evident. are somewhat evident. century skills are clearly evident.

Team Participation Only one (1) team member Team members participate generally All team members fully understand
(X1) communicates with judges; there equally and adequately understand the concepts of the project and
is no participation from other team the concepts of the project. share an equal role in answering
members. judges’ questions.

Coding Explanation The team barely or does not The team partially answers and/or The team answers and explains
(X3) answer or explain the purpose and partially explains the purpose and the purpose and construction of
construction of the code the judges construction of the coding section the coding section that the judges
chose from the code submitted. that the judges chose from the code chose from the code submitted.
submitted.

PRESENTATION/INTERVIEW SUBTOTAL (60 points)

Rules violations (a deduction of 20% of the total possible points for the above sections) must be initialed by the judge, coordinator, and
manager of the event. Record the deduction in the space to the right.
Indicate the rule violated: ______________

To arrive at the TOTAL score, subtract rules violation points, as necessary. TOTAL (130 points)

Comments:

I certify these results to be true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

JUDGE

Printed name: _______________________________________ Signature: _____________________________________________

308 Technology Student Association (TSA) High School Competitive Events Guide for the 2025 and 2026 National TSA Conferences