The general event guidelines below are applicable to all national competitive events. Please review and follow these guidelines when competing at the national level. When competing at the state level, check your state guidelines since they may differ.

Eligibility

• Dues: Competitors must have paid FBLA national and state dues by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 1 of the current school year.
• NLC Registration: Participants must be registered for the NLC and pay the national conference registration fee in order to participate in competitive events.
• Deadlines: The state chair, or designee, must register each state competitor on the official online entry forms by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the second Friday in May.
• Each state may submit one (1) entry in all events.
• Each competitor can only compete in one (1) event.
• Each competitor must compete in all parts of an event for award eligibility.
• A team shall consist of two or three members.

Repeat Competitors

Competitors are not permitted to compete in an event more than once at the NLC.

Breaking Ties

• Objective Tests: Ties are broken by comparing the correct number of answers to the last 10 questions on the exam. If a tie remains, the competitor who completed the test in a shorter amount of time will place higher. If this does not break the tie, answers to the last 20 questions will be reviewed and determine the winner.
• Reports/Projects and Performances: The report/project scores will be used to break a tie.
• Performances: Judges must break ties and all judges’ decisions are final.

National Deadlines

• State chair/adviser must register all competitors for NLC competitive events online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the second Friday in May.
• All prejudged components (report PDFs, resume/letter of application PDFs, and project URLs) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the second Friday in May.
• All URLs and PDFs for prejudged projects and reports will be submitted by the state adviser via the competitive events registration form.
• State chair/adviser may make name changes only (no additional entries) by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the first Friday in June. Competitor drops are the only changes allowed after this date and onsite.

National Awards

The number of competitors will determine the number of winners. The maximum number of winners for each competitive event is 2.

Additional Materials

Certain events may allow the use of additional materials. Please refer to event guidelines.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

FBLA‑PBL meets the criteria specified in the Americans with Disabilities Act for all participants who submit a special needs form.

Recording of Presentations

No unauthorized audio or video recording devices will be allowed in any competitive event. Participants in the performance events should be aware the national association reserves the right to record any performance for use in study or training materials.