Today we are looking at how Web Professionals Global helped facilitate state SkillsUSA Web Design and Development competitions this spring ahead of the National Leadership & Skills Conference that will take place from June 23-June 27 in Atlanta, GA. Since we started working directly with states in 2022, we have seen the level of competition improve significantly at both the state and national levels. Students are better prepared than ever to hit the ground running on day one and contribute to team success. Each year, more and more states sign up for the package we offer that includes the following:
- Online web design exam similar to what the competitors might see at nationals
- Competition project with client assets and judging rubric
- Handouts for competitors with overview and links to resources
- Online development environment “IDE” for each competitive team
- Support for judges and competition chairs
Our 25+ years of experience running competitions has resulted in a streamlined state process that takes the pressure off of state SkillsUSA programs to create the state competitions from scratch. Competitors and judges can participate either in person or remotely using our support tools. This enables states to utilize a wider range of judges, as many enjoy participating but cannot take the time from other obligations to join in person for a full day or more. We helped the following states run competitions in the spring of 2025:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Delaware
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Nevada
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Washington
Running the Competitions
Let’s look at how the competition ran in Illinois (photos in this article are from the 2025 Illinois competition) to see how our package makes life easier for the teams, volunteers and judges that make each state competition happen. What happened in Illinois is similar to what happens in each state that utilizes our Web Professionals Global package for their competition.
First, the Illinois SkillsUSA team contacted Web Professionals Global to schedule the state competition and receive the competition kit. In the following days, the Illinois SkillsUSA team met with the Web Professionals Global team to get trained on what to expect on the day of the competition and how to ensure it went smoothly. We always encourage a backup plan in the event there are network issues and we help each state make certain they can run the competition whether there is a network available or not. For those planning to take advantage of our competition offering in 2026, please give us at least 14 days notice so we can work closely with your team. We do not provide judges and occasionally need to train your judges in how to utilize our tools.
On the day of the competition, teams showed up to the venue and received handouts outlining how the competition would run. This included an introductory video outlining the online development environments, also known as IDE [Integrated Development Environment] (although most teams don’t need to review much as many are already with online coding environments such as VSCode). The team members also logged into their IDE to make sure they were ready to go when the competition began. The IDE contained the client assets along with a readme file explaining what each team needed to focus on if they wanted to win the competition (for example, making sure to preview work to verify images are linked properly).
Students were then introduced to their client for the competition and began to analyze the client’s needs, target audience and images and logos they would be using. After this introduction, students began the competition in their teams and started building their websites. Depending on the knowledge and skills of those running the competition, competitors may be asked to develop their own low fidelity wireframes as part of the initial process. These would be reviewed by local judges. For actually coding the client website, we provide a wireframe and ask all competitors to code to that standard as it makes it much easier to judge. Teams are not allowed to use frameworks of any sort (or help from AI), as doing so results in disqualification. We want competitors to use their knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding of responsive design, web accessibility and much more. Relying on a framework can hamper this demonstration as frameworks can be relied on as a crutch.
At the end of the competition, the judges used the online system we provided. This included a fair and easy-to-use rubric for judging the work of each team. Judges are able to review all teams’ work from a single view and can examine the end result or the code directly in the browser. This system ensures a transparent judging process that is consistent with the process that winning teams experience at the national competition. After the judging, first place winners of the state competitions are then eligible to compete in our national web design competition in Atlanta in June.
Mark DuBois, Executive Director of Web Professionals Global, had this to say about the 2025 state competitions: “We at Web Professionals Global would like to thank all of the Web Design national event team members who helped us build this year’s state competition package and support the state competition event teams.” Mark and other team members from Web Professionals Global will travel to Atlanta in several weeks to run the National SkillsUSA Web Design and Development competition.
Past Testimonials
Here are a few testimonials from organizers on state teams we have worked with in past years:
“The supplied client assets and coding environment were easy to use, and the collaborative piece between team members was invaluable for them to see real-time results. Mark and his team were invaluable in not only providing a real-time environment for students to code a website, but their attention to detail is impeccable. They are readily available to answer any questions and offered tips in advance to help the competition run as smoothly as possible. They made me feel much more comfortable knowing they were a phone call or email away. I would highly recommend using their product for any web design competition.” – Matt MacKay, WCSD Signature Academies & CTE Department, Nevada
Mark, your platform and contest is very well-designed and easy to use. The students truly loved competing in this contest! I can’t wait to see what you all have for nationals as well. It’s going to be wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed the integration into this year’s contest and look forward to working with you again on next year’s contest!” – Renee Blackshear, Instructor, Statewide Faculty Senate, SkillsUSA Texas
Reach Out Today
We are proud to be a part of this growing network of SkillsUSA state competitions. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more and having your state take advantage of our solution next year. And stay tuned for a recap article after the SkillsUSA national competition later in June.
