Rules & Guidelines

• Each student competitor must have an adult sponsor

  • • The adult sponsor can be a teacher, a mentor, a club organizer, a parent, or other adult involved in the student’s education

• The adult sponsor registers their student(s) no later than April 18th, 2025 (REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED)

• Sponsors will be asked to identify which class division their students will be participating in.

  • • Class divisions include 

      • • Elementary Division (grades K-5)

        • Middle School Division (grades 6-8)

        • High School Division (grades 9-12)

    • Adult sponsors may support students across multiple grades so long as each student entry is submitted into the appropriate class division based on the student’s grade

    • Entries will be judged and awarded within each class division

• Students may work individually or on a team of no more than two (2) students to create one ArcGIS StoryMap

  • • Adult sponsors for elementary students (grade K-5) may submit one ArcGIS StoryMap created by a large group of students, such as an entire class, that work together as a team

• All entries must include at least one (1) map

• While students are free to use any software to create their maps and conduct their research, all entries must be submitted as ArcGIS StoryMaps, which require an ArcGIS Online account

  • • Refer to the section ArcGIS Online Accounts for more details 

• Visual support, such as non-map images and videos, is limited

  • • This competition is meant to be map-centric and focused on the exploration, analysis, and presentation of geographic phenomena. The use of non-map visuals in the submitted ArcGIS StoryMap is limited, and use of these visuals may affect the judged scores.  These limits include:

      • • Videos, if used, are limited to no more than 60-seconds and must be created by the student(s)

          • • Exception: Time enabled maps are an exception

        • Images created by the student(s) are limited to five (5) in the ArcGIS StoryMap

          • • Exception: Replication of project maps as smaller/thumbnail images, icons used to help delineate organization within the entry, and items visible in pop-ups within interactive maps do not count against these limits

        • Images not created by the student(s) are limited to two (2)

          • • Any images not owned by the student(s) must include documentation of the author and source

• Any quotes, references, or images that do not belong to the student(s) must be well documented either in the ArcGIS StoryMap item description page or within the Storymap itself

  • • The student(s) may use any citation format they like so long as the originating author and source are clear

• Students who would like mentoring services, where a GIS Professional reviews their project and provides feedback, must submit a draft of their project no later than March 21st, 2025 (NOW CLOSED)

• Adult sponsors will coordinate with their students to ensure all StoryMaps are submitted by the competition deadline on May 5, 2025 Extended to May 12, 2025

Theme Guidelines

In order to align with the statewide contest, students must research and map a topic that is within the boundaries of Arizona. They must answer an Arizona based question, propose a solution to an Arizona-based problem, or address an Arizona-based issue.

Topic Guidelines

Students will choose an Arizona topic of interest and clearly identify what is to be mapped.  Possible items that may be mapped include:

• • • Specific items located by longitude and latitude points, such as the location of all the fire hydrants in your town

    • Areas with common characteristics, such as household income by county or census tract

    • Suggested broad topics for in-depth research and mapping might include (but are not limited to) wildlife, sports, immigration, politics, education, industry, land use, ecology, mining, recreation, agriculture, transportation, urban issues, and economic development.

For more ideas, watch the video on Topic Ideas.

Map Construction Guidelines

• Any GIS software may be used to construct your map(s)

• The map topic must be within the boundaries of Arizona

• The map topic must answer an Arizona based question, propose a solution to an Arizona-based problem, or address an Arizona-based issue

• The map(s) may include all of Arizona or a smaller area within the state, though the mapped area should not be smaller than one square mile

• The project may reference data outside the state "for context" but may not extend the focus of the study beyond the state borders. 

  • • For example, broader patterns of environmental characteristics or demographic movements may be referenced for context, but the focus must be on phenomena within the state

• The submitted map(s) must be embedded in an ArcGIS StoryMap

  • • Options for embedding the map(s) include, but are not limited to, uploading an image or referencing an interactive web map

    • Interactive web map tools are included in the ArcGIS Online Account 

• Maps may only be submitted by an individual student or a team of two students.

  • • Adult sponsors for elementary students (K-12) may submit an entry for their entire class

1. This is a "map competition." Entries should address an identified issue, puzzle, or challenge and answer “why” it’s there.  Entries should be analytical in nature and map-centric rather than photo-centric or relying on too much text. 

2. Use of videos or static images generated by anyone other than the team members must be carefully documented, and such media should be used sparingly. 

   1. • This competition is meant to be map-centric and focused on the exploration, analysis, and presentation of geographic phenomena.  The use of non-map visuals in the submitted ArcGIS StoryMap is limited, and use of these visuals may affect the judged scores.  These limits include:

        1. 1. Videos are optional but if used, they are limited to no more than 60-seconds and must be created by the student(s)

              1. • Exception: Time enabled maps are not considered videos and are an exception

           2. Images created by the student(s) are limited to five (5) in the ArcGIS StoryMap

              1. • Exception: Replication of project maps as smaller/thumbnail images, icons used to help delineate organization within the entry do not count against these limits, and items visible in popups within interactive maps do not count against these limits)

           3. Images not created by the student(s) are limited to two (2)

              1. • Any images not owned by the student(s) must include documentation of the author and source

3. Any quotes, references, or images that do not belong to the student(s) must be well documented either in the ArcGIS StoryMap item description page or within the Storymap itself.

   1. • The student(s) may use any citation format they like so long as the originating author and source are clear

4. The project must emphasize student work. A good way to judge project balance quickly is to identify the amount of time a viewer would spend consuming the entire project; map-based time and attention should be at least two thirds. It is a great idea to review previous competition project winner entries for context and ideas. 

5. Good projects gently help even a viewer unfamiliar with the region know quickly the location of the project focus. Requiring a viewer to zoom out several times to determine the region of focus detracts from the viewing experience. (Pretend the viewer is from a different part of the country, or a different country.)

6. Maps should invite interactive exploration by the viewer, not be static ("images"). The presentation should hold the attention of the viewer from start to finish.

7. Maps should demonstrate "the science of where" -- the importance of location, patterns, and relationships between layers. There is an art to map design; too much data may feel cluttered, but showing viewers only one layer at a time may limit the viewers' easy grasp of relationships.

8. Care should be taken to make "pop-ups" useful, limited to just the relevant information. They should add important information, and be formatted to make the most critical information easily consumable. These pop-ups can include formatted text, key links, images, data presented in charts, and so forth.

9. Document the project thoroughly. The previous award winners included well organized and thorough documentation with their submissions.