A word of caution -- As is often the case with rule changes, when we change a rule in the Official Guidelines and Policies, we may inadvertently miss a secondary instance where the change impacts another rule. If you find anything you believe to be conflicting pieces of information in the Official Guidelines and Policies, please email giselle.gremmert@canyonsdistrict.org with screenshots of the conflicting rules. Thank you for assisting with this continued group volunteer effort.
2026 RULE CHANGE #1 - Region Handbooks
In the past, it has been a semi-known rule that the Official Guidelines and Policies presented by UHSAA were only required to be implemented at State Competitions. Technically, regions were allowed to create their own Region Handbook as long as the rules were voted on by all participating schools in that region. For the most part, no regions have made any changes to their Region Handbooks and have been using the State Policies and Guidelines to run their Region Competitions. UHSAA is now eliminating the option for regions to adapt their own rules for their Region Competition. In order to qualify for a UHSAA State Competition, all regions must comply with the UHSAA State Theatre Policies and Guidelines in order to maintain fairness and consistency across all competitions. This change should have little to no effect on most regions as the majority of competitions have always used the State Guidelines.
If ANYONE knows where the rule about regions being able to make their own Handbook exists in Policies and Guidelines, please reach out. I am unable to find where this rule actually exists, but it's definitely been a known rule since the competition came into existence.
If you are reading through the Official Guidelines and Policies and notice any rule that does not specify what you believe to be assumed rules that differ between the Region and State level, please email giselle.gremmert@canyonsdistrict.org so the rule can be clarified in its writing, or information can be provided to you as to why the rule should not be changed.
If your region would like to apply for an exemption from a specific rule within Policies and Guidelines, please send an official email to Giselle and Missy.
2026 RULE CHANGE #2 - Content Warnings
Add Mature Themes as a Content Warning to act as an "other" category when the listed categories do not accurately depict the content of the play.
PREVIOUS RULE:
All One Act Play Directors and/or Head Coaches are required to submit any potential content warnings applicable to their chosen play in the following areas: sexual content, suicide, mental illness, terminal illness, abuse, strong language, graphic violence, or racism. These content warnings should be announced during a One Act Introduction by the Meet Director with a specific content warning. Example: Next up we have C701. This piece includes discussions of sexual content and strong language.
NEW RULE:
All One Act Play Directors and/or Head Coaches are required to submit any potential content warnings applicable to their chosen play in the following areas: sexual content, suicide, mental illness, terminal illness, abuse, strong language, graphic violence, racism, or mature themes. These content warnings should be announced during a One Act Introduction by the Meet Director with a specific content warning. Example: Next up we have C701. This piece includes discussions of sexual content and strong language.
This same change will be made to the IE rule as well.
2026 RULE CHANGE #3- Time Violations in Individual Event Finals Round
PREVIOUS RULE:
No current rule on time violations in a Finals Round.
NEW RULE:
In the finals round, any piece with a time violation is ineligible to receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. Time limits and procedures are posted on individual ballots and will be dealt with in the tabulation room by the meet director. Judges should score their ballots normally and denote any time violation in the appropriate box on the ballot.
2026 RULE CHANGE #4 - Tie Breakers in a Individual Event
PREVIOUS RULE:
In the medals round, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place in each individual event will be determined by adding up the rankings given from all three judges in the medals round. The lowest cumulative ranking wins 1st Place, second lowest, 2nd Place, third lowest, 3rd Place. In the event of a tie, the meet director will return to the highest cumulative scores given on the medals round ballots and add those numerical scores as an additional level of evidence for placing. Highest scores will break the tie. Ties will be rare, but can happen.
NEW RULE:
In the finals round, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place in each individual event will be determined by adding up the rankings given from all three judges in the medals round. The lowest cumulative ranking wins 1st Place, second lowest, 2nd Place, third lowest, 3rd Place. In the event of a tie, the meet director will return to the highest cumulative scores given on the medals round ballots and add those numerical scores as an additional level of evidence for placing. Highest scores will break the tie. If there is still a tie, look back to their ballots from their initial three rounds using FIRST highest total score, THEN lowest total rank to break the tie. If all of these cannot break the tie, the tie stands.
2026 RULE CHANGE #5 - Tie Breakers in Sweepstakes
PREVIOUS RULE:
1st and 2nd Place will be awarded for sweepstakes at the state level.
NEW RULE:
1st and 2nd Place will be awarded for sweepstakes at the state level. In the case of a tie, any pieces not previously added to the schools’ sweepstakes score (ie. individual events that may have occupied the 4th slot in each event) may then be added in order to break the tie. If there is still a tie after that, the school with the lowest average ranking score (all ranking scores from all pieces divided by total number of pieces) wins the tie-breaker.
2026 RULE CHANGE #6 - Time Violations in Preliminary IE Rounds
PREVIOUS RULE:
If a piece goes more than 10 seconds over or under the allotted time limit, 7 points will be taken off of the team’s sweepstakes score for each round this occurs in. In addition, if this happens in two or more rounds to the same piece, that piece becomes ineligible to qualify for final medals rounds or receive any sort of medal. At the region level, this would also make the piece ineligible to advance to State.
NEW RULE:
If a piece goes more than 10 seconds over or under the allotted time limit -- First offense: No point deduction. Coaches are able to notify students of their time violation, but it is not the job of the Meet Director to notify coaches of time violations, only a courtesy. Second and third offenses: 7 points will be taken off of the team’s sweepstakes score for each round in which the violation occurs. This piece becomes ineligible to qualify for final medals rounds or receive any sort of medal. At the region level, two or more time violations make the piece ineligible to advance to State.
2026 RULE CHANGE #7 - Superior Medals (More information surrounding this topic found on the Summer UACTT Meeting Slides and the Information Updates page of this website.
PREVIOS RULES:
1. At the state level, any piece receiving 65 points or above will receive a medal.
2. Region certificates, medals and trophies are decided upon by the individual regions
6. All individual event pieces that advance to the final medals round will receive a Superior medal regardless of their ratings in their first 3 rounds.
NEW RULE:
At the region level, all Individual Event pieces that qualify for State will receive a Superior medal. Those pieces who receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in their Individual Event category should receive their placement medal INSTEAD OF a superior medal. This means all state qualifiers will receive one medal.
At the state level, the top 20% of pieces in an Individual Event category, or all pieces in Finals Round (whichever number is greater), will receive a Superior medal. The 20% is determined first by rank, then by score (matching the placements determined in the scoring spreadsheets). Those pieces who receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in their Individual Event category should receive their placement medal INSTEAD OF a superior medal.
(DESIGN) At the State level, the top 20% of pieces in an Individual Event category, or top 5 pieces (whichever number is greater), will receive a Superior medal. The 20% is determined first by rank, then by score (matching the placements determined in the scoring spreadsheets). Those pieces who receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in their Individual Event category should receive their placement medal INSTEAD OF a superior medal.
RULE CHANGE FOR THE 2027 COMPETITION
While this change was approved by UHSAA in July of 2025, the implementation of the rule will not begin until the 2027 competition season to accommodate schools who may have already selected their One Act Play for the 2026 competition as performance aspect of the rule may impact show selection. However, for 2026, please be aware the intention of this rule has always been for adults to assist with the technical elements of a One Act play -- the rubric is about the acting, not the tech.
PREVIOUS RULE:
“Any entry that uses post-high school participants or children below high school age will be disqualified.”
NEW RULE:
“Any entry that uses post-high school participants or children below high school age in a live performance capacity will be disqualified. Live performance capacity includes acting roles (on or offstage), live accompaniment of vocal work or musical instruments (on or offstage). Live performance capacity does NOT include loading scenery on and off stage before or after the performance. It also does NOT include adult helpers controlling technical elements such as lighting or sound effects. It is anticipated that coaches may choose to assist in technical capacities.