Houston Region specific Information

Pending updates for 2025-26

Welcome to the Houston Area Region Odyssey (“HARO”) page. You will find here additional details that are specific to Houston, in addition to all the general program information that is explained on this website. To renew old memberships, visit our membership page with new instructions here.

Quick links to general information on our website:

Competition REGISTRATION (early October)

Tournament Staff for HARO

What’s Happening in September 2025:

Key dates for Houston season

Link to our Google Calendar to add events to your personal calendar. Please note that rsvp is only accepted through the specific sign-up links below.

The list below includes all dates mentioned in newsletters:

Month	Date	Time	Type	Details
August/ September 2024			Key date	Annual membership renewal* to access the current year full problems and program guide. Purchase/renew your annual membership* here.
September to February		Ongoing	Key date	Team meetings under the direction of their coach to determine their team solutions, build their own sets and costumes, write their scripts and practice presenting them in an 8-minute skit.
November	1^st	10:00 pm	Deadline	Last date for Annual Membership Renewal/ Purchase HERE.
December	Sun 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Online Team registration* closes for all regional competitions*
December, 2024	Wed 18^th		Key Date	Online Judge registration is open until Jan 15^th.
January 2025	10^th		Key Date	Preorders open for Team shirts for the regional competition. This is the shirt also worn on Day 2 of the World Finals Competition. Gather your team information to submit one order per team. Details to follow.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Payment for HARO competition fee. Late teams are not guaranteed to be on the competition schedule. Instructions here. Invoices will only be issued upon request.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline to include any qualified scheduling requests within the Tournament Registration.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline for registration of team judges for HARO competition.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline for registration of team judges for SOUTH TX teams.
January	Thu 16^th		Key Date	All Judges start receiving Training Packet A by email
January	Fri 17^th	5 pm to 7 pm	Event	Tournament Staff Orientation. For memberships with 4 or more teams, by rsvp (4 slots). Info here.
January	Mon 20^th		Key Date	Volunteer job list opens for sign-up. Jobs will be open for 3 weeks, first come , first served. Links on this page.
January	Mon 20^th	10 pm	Deadline	Tournament Staff, deadline to register. For memberships with 4 or more teams. Info here.
January	Mon 20^th	4 pm to 6 pm	Event	Tournament Staff Orientation. For memberships with 4 or more teams, by rsvp (4 slots). Info here.
February	Sat 1^st	2 pm to 5 pm	Event	On-site Judges Training at San Jacinto College, South Campus, 13735 Beamer Rd, Houston 77089.
February	Sun 2^nd	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline for registration of untrained volunteers for all regional competitions. Job selection varies by region.
February	Mon 3^rd	10 pm	Deadline	Judges: Based on your session rsvp, deadline to take General Training certification test online if you attended the on-site full training. Link is in the judge confirmation email.
February	Wed 5^th	10 pm	Deadline	Judges: Based on your session rsvp, deadline to take General Training certification test online, for attendance to Virtual Judge Training make-up session. Link is in the judge confirmation email.
February	Thu 6^th		Key Date	Judges: Based on your session rsvp, you start receiving Training Packet B by email and an invitation for attendance to Virtual Judge Training make-up session.
February	Sat 8^th	3 pm to 5 pm	Event	Virtual Judges Training. Make-up sessions with limited scope. Pre-requisites apply.
February	Sun 9^th	4 pm to 6 pm	Event	Tournament Staff Orientation. For memberships with 4 or more teams, by rsvp (4 slots). Info here.
February	Tue 11^th	7:30 pm	Event	HARO Competition Walk-through for Coaches. Virtual one-hour session. No rsvp needed. Join here.
February	Fri 14^th	10 pm	Deadline	Volunteers pick their own jobs until this date [the deadline was pushed back due to delay in publishing the team schedule]. After that time, remaining jobs will be assigned to teams without volunteers.
February	Sat 22^nd	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	HARO Regional Competition, Pershing Middle School, 3838 Blue Bonnet Drive, followed by the Awards ceremony on-site.
February	Tue 25^th	10 pm	Deadline	Judges: Deadline to advance your registration for the State Competition.
March	Sat 1^st	10 pm	Deadline	Payment for STATE competition fee. Late teams are not guaranteed to be on the competition schedule. Instructions here.
March	Fri 28^th	6:30 pm	Event	Team Mixer. All teams invited to this party held at San Jacinto College, South Campus. Rsvp to follow.
March	Sat 29^th	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	TX State Competition, at San Jacinto College, South Campus, followed by the Awards ceremony on-site. (Advancing teams)
April	Tue 22^nd		Deadline	Team Registration and Payment of housing package or competition fee for all World Finals teams.
May	Wed 21^st evening to Sat 24^th	three full days	Competition	World Finals, Michigan State University, in Lansing, MI. (Advancing teams)