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How to Organize a Local Bridge Design Contest
Local Contests  

Are you interested in running a local bridge design contest in your classroom, school, or community? If so, we can support your efforts by providing you with your own customized, web-based Local Contest Scoreboard.

In order to receive our support, your local contest must be scheduled during the period of time when the on-line registration and upload features of this website are operational. Thus, your local contest can begin no sooner than October 1 , 2008 and must end prior to July 1, 2009.


Procedure  

Here's a brief summary of the procedure for setting up a local contest. For more detailed instructions, please download the .pdf document at right.

Decide on the Bridge Design Project you would like to use for your local contest. The Bridge Design Project consists of a specified load case and site configuration. In WPBD 2007, there are 4 load cases and 98 site configurations to choose from! For detailed guidance on selecting a Bridge Design Project, see Appendix A of Instructions for Organizing a Local Contest.
bullet Send an e-mail message to wpbedc1@gmail.com. Provide your name, e-mail address, phone number, load case (specify Load Case A, B, C, or D), site configuration (specify the Site Configuration number), and a brief description of your proposed local contest. As a minimum, describe the target audience, sponsoring organization or school, prizes (if any), and relevant dates.
We will assign you a unique 6-character Local Contest Code. You will need to publicize this code to all potential participants in your local contest. (NOTE: If you already have a Local Contest Code from a previous year's contest, you must request a new one for this year.)
Ask your local contest participants to register for the West Point Bridge Design Contest by accessing this website and hitting the Register and Login tab. Participants who do not meet our formal eligibility requirements may still participate in your local contest by registering in the Open Competition.
As part of the on-line registration process, your contest participants will be asked to enter the Local Contest Code. (This occurs on the final registration page--the same page on which the contestant enters his or her e-mail address and password.) If the Local Contest Code is entered correctly, the contestant will receive a confirmation on his or her Team Home Page.
Once the Local Contest Code is registered in our system, our server will generate a Local Contest Scoreboard automatically every 24 hours and post it to a web page. You will be able to access this page to get up-to-date information about participation in your contest.
The URL of the Local Contest Scoreboard is http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/standings/local/######.htm, where ###### is your unique six-character Local Contest Code.

After your local contest has ended, you may request your local winners' full names and contact information by sending e-mail to wpbedc1@gmail.com.


Class Projects  

Last year, nearly 100 middle-school and high-school teachers organized local bridge design contests as class projects for their students. In practice, many of these projects weren't really contests; the teachers just used the Local Contest Scoreboard as a tool to keep track of their students' performance on the bridge design project.

This year, you can do it too! If you are a teacher and are using the West Point Bridge Designer for a class project, you can request a Local Contest Code by following the procedure described above. Ensure that your students enter the code when they register for the national contest. Then your web-based Local Contest Scoreboard will provide up-to-date, easily accessible feedback on your students' performance.

Detalied Instructions
For detailed instructions on how to request, organize, and publicize a local bridge design contest, please download this .pdf document:
To open this document, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

OUR PRIMARY SPONSOR

The American Society of Civil Engineers

Previous Local Contests

A regional contest in California, sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

 

A statewide contest in Alabama, sponsored by the Alabama Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Alabama Department of Transportation, and the Alabama Bridge Construction Association.