prior to july 1, 2017, nar sections (local groups of members) across the country would hold contests known as “meets” over the course of a “contest year” which runs july 1 to june 30 and includes a naram held shortly thereafter. there were four levels of meets- section, local, open, and regional. each had different requirements on the minimum number of competitors and the geographic distribution of those competitors. competitors attending these contests did so in the interest of earning “points” which they would accumulate during the course of the contest year which ended on june 30. once the contest year ended, naram would be held and those competitors who could attend, would carry their accumulated point over to naram where they could earn more points. at an awards banquet that concluded naram, those competitors with the most points in each of four competition divisions, would receive awards for event performance (such as parachute duration) and national champions (those with the greatest point totals) would be crowned. on july 1, 2017, after nearly 3 years of development, and in response to a steadily falling number of members involved in competition, a new us model rocket sporting code (usmrsc) was implemented. the new sporting code described an entirely new competition format- the national rocketry competition or nrc. the intent of the nrc being to make contest rocketry more approachable, less expensive, and allow young members easier access to competition. the previous points structure was removed. rules were created that allow members to fly competition as frequently as they want, wherever they can, with as few as just two members. naram 60 in 2018 was the culmination of the first year of competition under the nrc.