National Craft Championship > The Competition

The Competition / About NCC

About NCC

Our Competition

Each competition consists of a written exam, typically based on the Contren® Learning Series curricula developed by the NCCER. The written exam accounts for 25 percent of the total score. Held on the second day, competitors are tested on their skills during a six-hour project. This practical performance test accounts for 75 percent of the total score.

The National Craft Championships presents competitions in the following crafts:

Carpentry: Residential-Commercial	Electrical: Commercial-industrial	Electrical: Residential-Commercial	Fire Sprinkler
HVAC	Instrumentation Fitting	Insulation	Millwright/ Industrial Maintenance Mechanic
Pipefitting	Plumbing	Power Line Worker	Sheet Metal
Welding-Pipe	Welding-Structural	Commercial Team Competition	Industrial Team Competition
Commercial Metal Stud Framing and Drywall

Commercial Team Competition

Four craft journey-level professionals work as a team to complete a series of craft-specific tasks focused on electrical, plumbing, sheet metal/HVAC and carpentry in a six-hour period. Journey-level professionals may have competed in a prior NCC Commercial Team Competition/Demonstration; this includes competing in the same or a different craft that makes up the NCC Commercial Team Competition. Journey-level professionals who competed as an apprentice in the National Craft Championships ARE eligible to compete, one-time only, in the Commercial Team Competition. Team competitors will not be required to take a written assessment. Controlled copies of the craft specifications and drawings will be given to the teams during orientation. These documents will not be allowed to leave the competition area.

Competition Objectives

Demonstrate safety along with craft interdependency and teamwork;
Simulate working conditions where planning is critical to success; and
Highlight individual leadership and workmanship skills as the project is assembled and completed.

Industrial Team Competition

The Industrial Team Competition includes three craft journey-level professionals who work as a team to complete a series of craft-specific tasks focused on electrical, pipefitting and insulation in a six-hour period. (The competition no longer includes the carpentry or millwright crafts.) Journey-level professionals may NOT have competed in a prior NCC Industrial Team Competition/Demonstration; this includes competing in the same or a different craft that make up the NCC Industrial Team Competition. Journey-level professionals who competed as an apprentice in the National Craft Championships ARE eligible to compete, one-time only, in the Industrial Team Competition. Controlled copies of the craft specifications and drawings will be given to the teams during a team collaboration session Wednesday morning. These documents will be returned to the project manager and distributed again Thursday morning at the beginning of the competition. No copies of these documents will be allowed to leave the competition area.

Competition Objectives

Demonstrate safety along with craft interdependency and teamwork;
Simulate working conditions where planning is critical to success; and
Highlight individual leadership and workmanship skills as the project is assembled and completed.

New! TIG Welding Demo

NCC introduces tungsten arc welding (GTAW) as a craft demonstration in 2020. Also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, this arc welding process uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce a weld.