Team Center

Program Overview

Future City - North Texas

The detailed schedule for NTX region will be maintained on this site: NTX schedule. Refer to it for detailed schedule information for the North Texas Regional Future City Competition and acceptable dates for all the required deliverables. The schedule on the Educator Dashboard is for reference only. In case of discrepancy, the NTX schedule linked above takes precedence.

The Middle School Competition deliverables include:
- Research essay
- Physical model
- Project Plan
- Presentation
- City Q&A

Enrollment

Schools and youth organizations with 6th-7th grade students may register by 31 October by completing the middle school National Future City Competition online enrollment form.

Registration fee is $25 per school or organization.

2025-2026 Future City Competition Theme: Farm To Table

While humans once grew good wherever they lives, today most of our food travels to us from far away.

Modern cities make it easy to get groceries from the store - but at a cost.

Cities of the future need to rethink how food moves through our lives.

The team's challenge for this year -

Design a city that eliminates food waste from farm to table and keeps your citizens healthy and safe.

This component will describe the team’s solution to the annual challenge. Students write a 1,500 word essay that introduces their city and provides a solution to this year’s challenge

Essay

Physical Model

Students build a physical scale model of a section of their city using recycled materials. This is the opportunity for the team to realize their vision of the city and see their ideas for the future come to life. This includes a completed Expense Form.

2025-2026 Future City North Texas Requirement :

In acknowledgement of our region hosting World Cup Soccer games in 2026, models must include a stadium.
A 10 point deduction will be applied for any model without a stadium.

A group of up to 3 students will creatively present to a panel of judges. They will explain how they addressed the challenge and designed their city.

At the end of the presentation, judges will ask questions to challenge the students to think beyond their design and real life application.

Presentation /
Q&A

Project Plan

Students work with their team to complete a four-part project plan to help them stay organized, focused, and on schedule as they complete their other Future City Project Deliverables.

Note: Each part has a different deadlines.

Judging

• Deliverables will be judged by multiple judges and the scores for each averaged then added together to come up with a composite/total score for each team.

• The essay will be judged during December-January.

• The project plan parts will be reviewed in January by the Coordination Committee.

• Model, presentation and Q&A judging will take place on-site at the NTX Regional Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.

  • Throughout the day students will be assigned a time to present to a panel of at least 3 judges.

    • Judges will ask questions at the end of each presentation.

  • A special session of special award judges will ask students questions based on specific criteria.

  • After lunch, the teams with the highest 5 scores will present to a large audience.

    • VIP judges will re-judge models, presentations and ask questions to select the top 3 teams.

Awards Ceremony and Announcement of Winners

• The results of the NTX Future City Competition will be announced during the Awards Ceremony.

• Scores for individual teams and deliverables will be available for educators following the announcements.

  Prizes:

  • Future City Competition will provide prizes for:

    • First Place

    • Second Place

    • Third Place

    • Best Essay

    • Best Model

  • Sponsors will also give out Special Awards recognizing accomplishments in various categories, such as: Green City, Energy Efficiency, etc.

2025-2026 Schedule

Friday, October 31, 2025: Registration

Friday, December 5, 2025: Essay due

• Submit in electronic format - .doc

• Upload files through the CMS

• Files received by deadline will avoid late penalties.
  Late submissions are allowed - see below for dates and penalties.

Friday, December 19, 2025 : Last date for Essay files.
Files received by this date will have points deducted.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026 : Last Day to Modify Teams

Saturday, January 24, 2026: Competition Day

Project Plan Dates:

• Part 1 : November 10, 2025

• Part 2: November 10, 2025

• Part 3: December 19, 2025

• Part 4: January 9, 2026

Competition location Tarrant County College-Trinity River Campus West

• Team Check-in

  • Bring Model with ID tag

  • Bring completed, signed and completed Expense Form

  • Bring signed Media Waiver Form (Students and Educators)

Participating Schools and Organizations

2025-2026 Registered Organization (To be updated after November 1, 2025)