Eligibility Requirements

National Craft Championships competitors must be trainees or students. They must be enrolled in and soon to be completing a training program. Training programs should include formal craft training and/or registered apprenticeship programs as well as both written exams and practical performance tests. To be eligible to compete in the National Craft Championships, a trainee must meet the following requirements as well as the specific competition eligibility requirements included in the NCC Guidebook:

• Be actively enrolled and sponsored by an ABC chapter, ABC member firm (in-house) or ABC “chapter-approved” training sponsor program within nine months prior to the National Craft Championships. 
• Must not be certified as a journeyman more than six months prior to the date of the National Craft Championships. A journeyman is defined as 1) holding a journeyman license from any state, city, county or municipality; 2) holding a U.S. Department of Labor journeyman’s credentials; or 3) being compensated as a journeyman. 
• Possess no more than six years total experience in the competition being entered (not including secondary school programs). 
• Did not compete within the same craft competition in any previous National Craft Championships (formerly ABC Craft Olympics). In addition, a competitor who competes in one of the NCC electrical competitions is not eligible to compete in the other NCC electrical competition. 
• The following new policy is being mandated to ensure all competitors are equally prepared to compete in a competition setting and possess sufficient hands-on experience to ensure the necessary regard for their own safety and those of others in the competition: Any craft training student that has not previously been employed or is not currently employed by a construction-related firm must be approved to compete by the National Craft Championships Committee. 
• There is no limit to the number of eligible competitors an ABC chapter, chapter-approved training program or member firm may send in a single competition. However, to ensure adequate competition materials are available at the time of the competition, all competitor space reservations must be submitted no later than Dec. 1, 2017, using the online Intent to Compete Form. Certain competitions have size limitations. As a result, space reservations will be accepted on a first come-first serve basis with every effort to accommodate the maximum number of competitors possible. 
• It is not necessary to send a competitor for each competition. 
• A competitor’s training sponsor must complete and submit an Intent to Compete Form no later than Dec. 1, 2017. Intent to Compete Forms will not be accepted after this date, and all fees are non-refundable should a competitor drop for any reason. In addition, a Competitor Registration Form for each competitor must be submitted no later than Jan. 12, 2018. Each competitor also must meet all specific competition eligibility requirements included in the NCC Guidebook.