Royal trophies (Kongepokal) are given to the most outstanding male and female athletes of the competition.

[2] The competition programme features a total of 42 individual Norwegian Championship athletics events, 21 for men and 21 for women.

[1] In the early history of the competition, men took part in a pentathlon championship up to 1969.

The 2000 women's steeplechase championship marked the third and final obstacle-based event to be added.

The women's field events eventually came to parity with the men's, following the introduction of the triple jump in 1991, and pole vault and hammer throw in 1996.