We inform college students that studying is its personal reward, and that’s actually true. But it surely’s additionally good to win cash and different prizes! Figuring out they might acquire recognition or perhaps a prize for successful might be extremely motivating. This roundup consists of one of the best contests and competitions for highschool, center college, and elementary college college students.
(Know of a scholar contest or competitors we should always add? Contact us right here.)
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Contests and Competitions for Excessive College College students
FEATURED PICK
The Edit
The Edit is a digital storytelling problem from NBCU Academy and Adobe. Your center or highschool college students will construct essential communication and collaboration expertise as they plan, script, and produce their very own 90-second video information studies on wellness subjects. Successful school rooms shall be rewarded with prizes like GoPros, Fandango present playing cards, and extra!
AFSA Nationwide Excessive College Essay Contest
For those who’re trying to assist college students take a deep dive into worldwide relations, historical past, and writing, look no additional than this essay contest. Winners obtain $2,500 plus full tuition to the Semester at Sea program in addition to a visit to Washington, D.C., to fulfill with a pacesetter on the Division of State.
All American Excessive College Movie Competition
Pupil movies have the chance to change into an Official Choice, screened on the AMC Empire 25 Theatres in Occasions Sq., the busiest movie show in America! Every October, hundreds of scholar filmmakers collect in New York Metropolis for an action-packed weekend of assets and leisure, together with the Teen Indie Awards Present, the place over $500,000 in prizes and scholarships are handed out.
ArtEffect Undertaking
The ArtEffect Undertaking teaches center and highschool college students about their energy to impact constructive change via inventive storytelling that celebrates unsung heroes from historical past. College students submit high-quality inventive artwork initiatives within the visible arts, narrative movie, theater, and artistic nonfiction genres. Winners can obtain hundreds of {dollars} in prizes.
Blue Ocean Competitors
Entrepreneurial highschool college students pitch their revolutionary enterprise concepts to obtain suggestions from specialists, in addition to the possibility to win prize cash. Teenagers can enter on their very own or as a group of as much as 4 folks.
Breakthrough Junior Problem
College students submit a giant scientific thought in basic physics, life sciences, or arithmetic in video kind. Winners obtain school scholarships, plus cash for his or her trainer and faculty.
BUILD’s Design Problem
College students in grades 7–12 use design considering to create options to real-world challenges. On this 10-hour expertise, college students develop entrepreneurial expertise and empathy whereas studying about prototyping and testing.
Congressional Artwork Competitors
Every spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide highschool visible arts competitors. Winners are acknowledged each of their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The successful works are displayed for one yr on the U.S. Capitol.
Conrad Problem
Design an innovation, clear up an essential downside, and set up your self as an entrepreneur. You would possibly simply change the world within the course of! College students work in groups of two to 5 to compete for prizes resembling scholarships, worldwide journeys, and extra.
C-SPAN’s StudentCam Competitors
This nationwide contest invitations all center and highschool college students to create a five-to-seven-minute documentary primarily based on an annual theme.
DECA Aggressive Occasions
DECA prepares rising leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in advertising and marketing, finance, hospitality, and administration. DECA’s aggressive occasions might be grouped into three broad classes: role-plays and case research, ready occasions, and on-line simulations. Occasions happen across the nation and all year long.
Worldwide Compost Consciousness Week Poster Contest
College students create a poster for Worldwide Compost Consciousness Week, which takes place in Might. The winner will get $500 and the possibility to see their poster produced professionally.
Jane Austen Essay Contest
Highschool college students can win as much as $1,000 in scholarship cash by writing an essay on a brand new Austen theme every year, sponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America.
NAQT Quiz Bowl
Quiz Bowl is a fast-paced buzzer competitors wherein groups of 4 gamers compete to reply questions that cowl tutorial topics like literature and science in addition to the broader world of standard tradition and present occasions. Native center college and highschool tournaments ship their winners on to regional and nationwide championships.
Nationwide Tutorial League
As center and highschool scholar groups compete to reply questions aligned to nationwide requirements, they need to additionally cooperate and use teamwork to deal with every quarter’s new problem. Every college can subject a group of 15 to 40 college students, giving plenty of youngsters an opportunity to take part.
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) Contest
Nationwide Historical past Day is an annual occasion for lecturers and college students in grades 6–12 that promotes essential considering expertise via project-based studying. College students start their journey by presenting their initiatives in school rooms, faculties, and districts around the globe. Prime entries are invited to the state/affiliate-level contests. The highest two entries in each class on the state/affiliate degree are then invited to the Nationwide Contest.
Nationwide Younger Composers Problem
The problem is easy: First, college students write their very own composition for a small ensemble (two to 6 devices) or full orchestra. Then, a panel of judges chooses the highest three orchestral and prime three ensemble compositions to be carried out and recorded by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra on the NYCC Composium held in Orlando, Florida.
New York Occasions Pupil Writing Contests
Every month, the New York Occasions declares a brand new writing contest for center and highschool college students ages 13 to 19. The subjects and necessities are completely different every month, with one thing to attraction to all types of younger authors and journalists.
PicoCTF Cybersecurity Competitors
PicoCTF is a pc safety sport for center and highschool college students. The sport consists of a sequence of challenges centered round a singular storyline the place individuals should reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do no matter it takes to unravel the problem. The challenges are all arrange with the intent of being hacked, making it a wonderful, authorized solution to get hands-on expertise.
Princeton 10-Minute Play Contest
Searching for scholar writing contests for budding playwrights? On this competitors, judged by the theater school of Princeton College, college students submit quick performs in an effort to win recognition and money prizes of as much as $500. (Word: Solely open to eleventh graders.)
Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow
The Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow competitors invitations center and highschool lecturers to guide a bunch of scholars in making a STEM-centered resolution that addresses a necessity of their neighborhood. Academics and college students compete to win a share of $2 million for his or her faculties. The Nationwide Winner prize is $100,000 in expertise and classroom supplies.
Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards
The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for inventive teenagers (ages 13+, grades 7–12) awards scholarships and provides youngsters an opportunity to showcase their expertise for among the foremost leaders within the arts.
House Settlement Design Competitions
These occasions emulate, as intently as potential for highschool college students, the experiences of working as members of aerospace design and proposal groups. College students be taught cooperation, administration, and communication expertise. Finalists win the possibility to journey to Kennedy House Middle!
Stossel within the Classroom
Stossel within the Classroom desires to know what highschool and center college college students take into consideration entrepreneurship and innovation. With $20,000 in money prizes up for grabs, youngsters can enter the essay contest or the video contest. There are bonus prizes for lecturers too!
United States Tutorial Decathlon
The USA Tutorial Decathlon is a 10-event scholastic competitors for groups of highschool college students. Every highschool enters a group of 9 college students: three honors college students (3.80–4.00 GPA), three scholastic college students (3.20–3.799 GPA), and three varsity college students (0.00–3.199 GPA). They’ll want all kinds of educational information and expertise to come back out on prime!
U.S. Nationwide Chemistry Olympiad
This tiered competitors for highschool college students consists of a sequence of chemistry exams. Native winners transfer on to the nationwide examination, whose winners take part in a examine camp and worldwide examination contest over the summer time.
World of 8 Billion Video Contest
Center and highschool college students create a brief video—as much as 60 seconds lengthy—about human inhabitants development that highlights one of many following international challenges: local weather change, gender equality, or waste. Children can win as much as $1,200!
Contests and Competitions for Center College College students
ArtEffect Undertaking
The ArtEffect Undertaking teaches center and highschool college students about their energy to impact constructive change via inventive storytelling that celebrates unsung heroes from historical past. College students submit high-quality inventive artwork initiatives within the visible arts, narrative movie, theater, and artistic nonfiction genres. Winners can obtain hundreds of {dollars} in prizes.
BUILD’s Design Problem
College students in grades 7–12 use design considering to create options to real-world challenges. On this 10-hour expertise, college students develop entrepreneurial expertise and empathy whereas studying about prototyping and testing.
C-SPAN’s StudentCam Competitors
This nationwide contest invitations all center and highschool college students to create a five-to-seven-minute documentary primarily based on an annual theme.
Future Metropolis Competitors
Future Metropolis is a project-based studying program wherein college students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades think about, analysis, design, and construct cities of the long run.
The Hardest Math Drawback
This contest challenges college students in grades 5–8 to observe essential considering supported by correct computation. Each youngsters and their lecturers are eligible for prizes.
NAQT Quiz Bowl
Quiz Bowl is a fast-paced buzzer competitors wherein groups of 4 gamers compete to reply questions that cowl tutorial topics like literature and science in addition to the broader world of standard tradition and present occasions. Native center college and highschool tournaments ship their winners on to regional and nationwide championships.
Nationwide Tutorial League
As center and highschool scholar groups compete to reply questions aligned to nationwide requirements, they need to additionally cooperate and use teamwork to deal with every quarter’s new problem. Every college can subject a group of 15 to 40 college students, giving plenty of youngsters an opportunity to take part.
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) Contest
Nationwide Historical past Day is an annual occasion for lecturers and college students in grades 6–12 that promotes essential considering expertise via project-based studying. College students start their journey by presenting their initiatives in school rooms, faculties, and districts around the globe. Prime entries are invited to the state/affiliate-level contests. The highest two entries in each class on the state/affiliate degree are then invited to the Nationwide Contest.
New Moon Women
New Moon Women publishes contributions from women ages 8–14. The journal publishes 4 instances every year, and submissions usually tend to be printed in the event that they match an upcoming editorial theme.
New York Occasions Pupil Writing Contests
Every month, the New York Occasions declares a brand new writing contest for center and highschool college students ages 13 to 19. The subjects and necessities are completely different every month, with one thing to attraction to all types of younger authors and journalists.
Ocean Consciousness Contest
College students ages 11 to 18 can find out about environmental points via art-making and artistic communication, discover their relationship to a altering world, and change into advocates for constructive change. Submit a bit recognizing local weather change heroes, utilizing visible arts, poetry and artistic writing, movie, performing arts, or multimedia. Prizes embrace money awards and eligibility for particular alternatives.
PicoCTF Cybersecurity Competitors
PicoCTF is a pc safety sport for center and highschool college students. The sport consists of a sequence of challenges centered round a singular storyline the place individuals should reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do no matter it takes to unravel the problem. The challenges are all arrange with the intent of being hacked, making it a wonderful, authorized solution to get hands-on expertise.
Promising Younger Writers Program
Academics and faculties can nominate eighth grade college students to compete on this contest. Nominees submit an article primarily based on the yr’s immediate. Winners obtain certificates in varied ranges of distinction.
Ranger Rick Picture Contest
Children 13 and beneath can enter any nature-themed photograph they’ve taken on their very own utilizing a digital camera or cellphone digital camera app. Each month, winners shall be chosen by the judges and posted on the competition homepage within the Current Contest Winners slideshow. On-line winners shall be within the working for Ranger Rick’s “Your Finest Pictures” Journal Award. Journal Award winners shall be chosen 3 times every year for publication in Ranger Rick journal’s December–January, April, and August points.
Rubber Band Contest
This contest challenges college students in grades 5–8 to design and create a working invention/art work that includes no less than one rubber band. College students can compete in one in all two separate divisions: Arts & Leisure or Science & Engineering. Winners obtain as much as $300.
Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow
The Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow competitors invitations center and highschool lecturers to guide a bunch of scholars in making a STEM-centered resolution that addresses a necessity of their neighborhood. Academics and college students compete to win a share of $2 million for his or her faculties. The Nationwide Winner prize is $100,000 in expertise and classroom supplies.
Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards
The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for inventive teenagers (ages 13+, grades 7–12) awards scholarships and provides youngsters an opportunity to showcase their expertise for among the foremost leaders within the arts.
Stossel within the Classroom
Stossel within the Classroom desires to know what highschool and center college college students take into consideration entrepreneurship and innovation. With $20,000 in money prizes up for grabs, youngsters can enter the essay contest or the video contest. There are bonus prizes for lecturers too!
World of 8 Billion Video Contest
Center and highschool college students create a brief video—as much as 60 seconds lengthy—about human inhabitants development that highlights one of many following international challenges: local weather change, gender equality, or waste. Children can win as much as $1,200!
Younger Scientist Problem
College students in grades 5–8 create a one-to-two-minute video describing a brand new, revolutionary resolution that would clear up an on a regular basis downside. Ten finalists shall be chosen for his or her ardour for science, spirit of innovation and ingenuity, and efficient communication expertise.
YouthPLAYS Potential Authors
Authors 19 and beneath can submit a one-act play to the New Voices competitors. They’re significantly desirous about performs that talk to BIPOC teenagers and youth.
Contests and Competitions for Elementary College College students
Doodle for Google
Do you know that every yr, one scholar in grades Ok–5 has an opportunity to see their very own doodle featured on the Google search web page? This annual contest offers youngsters the chance to succeed in tens of millions of viewers with their design.
New Moon Women
New Moon Women publishes contributions from women ages 8 to 14. The journal publishes 4 instances every year, and submissions usually tend to be printed in the event that they match an upcoming editorial theme.
Ranger Rick Picture Contest
Children 13 and beneath can enter any nature-themed photograph they’ve taken on their very own, utilizing a digital camera or cellphone digital camera app. Each month, judges choose winners and put up them on the competition homepage within the Current Contest Winners slideshow. On-line winners shall be within the working for Ranger Rick’s “Your Finest Pictures” Journal Award. Journal Award winners shall be chosen 3 times every year for publication in Ranger Rick journal’s December–January, April, and August points.
Contests and Competitions for College students of All Ages
Celebrating Artwork
This contest is open to Ok–12 college students attending public faculties, homeschool, and artwork studios. Children and lecturers can win prizes, classroom provides, and extra!
Constituting America: We the Future
College students can win scholarship cash by submitting an entry to this annual contest, and lecturers can too! There are a number of classes with particular prompts for every, together with songs, essays, STEM initiatives, and extra. Academics obtain a $50 Amazon present card when no less than 10 of their college students submit an entry.
Discovery Award
The Lowell Milken Middle for Unsung Heroes Discovery Award gives college students in grades 4–12 a singular alternative to analysis major sources and develop excellent initiatives that characteristic unsung heroes who can function position fashions and encourage others to create change.
EngineerGirl Writing Contest
Every year, EngineerGirl sponsors an essay contest with subjects centered on the impression of engineering on the world. College students can win as much as $500 in prize cash. This contest is a pleasant bridge between ELA and STEM and nice for lecturers desirous about incorporating an interdisciplinary venture into their curriculum. It’s open to college students in grades 3 and up.
Invention Conference
The Invention Conference program is a Ok–12 project-based studying curriculum that helps college students be taught to assume critically and determine issues of their world. Inventors and entrepreneurs are invited to compete at prestigious annual occasions.
NASA CineSpace Quick Movie Competitors
Opponents submit a brief movie impressed by, and utilizing, precise footage from NASA’s digital archives for an opportunity to earn money prizes and have their movie screened on the Houston Cinema Arts Competition, held every November. Though entrants have to be no less than 18 to enter, dad and mom and guardians can enter submissions on behalf of their youthful youngsters.
NASA Langley Pupil Artwork Contest
The competition is open to all Ok–12 college students attending public, personal, parochial, and residential faculties who’re residents of the USA, and grades Ok–12 of U.S. army members stationed abroad.
Nationwide Historical past Bowl
The Nationwide Historical past Bowl is a buzzer-based historical past quiz competitors for groups of as much as six college students ages 19 or youthful. Native competitions ship their winners on to compete within the nationwide championships.
Nationwide PTA Reflections Awards
College students of all ages create and submit authentic artworks within the areas of dance choreography, movie manufacturing, literature, music composition, images, and visible arts. Native winners transfer on to the regional, state, and nationwide ranges. Nationwide-level awards embrace an $800 prize and a visit to the Nationwide PTA Conference.
90-Second Newbery Movie Competition
The 90-Second Newbery Movie Competition is an annual video contest for younger filmmakers. They’ll create films that inform the whole story of a Newbery award–successful e book in about 90 seconds. Successful entries are screened at occasions nationwide together with in New York, Chicago, and Boston.
Scope Writing Contests
Scope journal (printed by Scholastic) options all kinds of contests to excite college students in grades 4–12 about writing. Plus they will win superior prizes!
Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee
Is the nation’s subsequent spelling champion in your personal classroom? Discover out by holding your personal spelling bee, then sending the winner on to compete in regional competitions resulting in the final word nationwide competitors. College students as much as age 16 are eligible to take part.
SIBA Invention Competitors
The Pupil Concepts for a Higher America contest welcomes functions from pre-Ok via twelfth grade. Enter any thought for a brand new solution to show an academic idea, an thought for a brand new product, or an enchancment for an present product or process.
Telling Room Founders Prize
College students ages 6–18 can submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to The Telling Room. Every year, they award the Founders Prize to one of the best piece of writing to come back out of a Telling Room program.
You should definitely obtain your free five-paragraph essay planners!
Assist your college students prep for essay contests with this bundle of free graphic organizers. From a “blueprint” define to detailed drafts, this assortment of printable worksheets will assist youngsters craft award-winning essays.
