Greatest 2024-25 Competitions for College students in Grades Okay-12
We inform college students that studying is its personal reward, and that’s definitely true. But it surely’s additionally good to win cash and different prizes! Realizing they may achieve recognition or perhaps a prize for successful could be extremely motivating. This roundup consists of the very best contests and competitions for highschool, center faculty, and elementary faculty college students.
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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 crucial communication and collaboration expertise as they plan, script, and produce their very own 90-second video information experiences on wellness matters. Successful lecture rooms might be rewarded with prizes like GoPros, Fandango reward playing cards, and extra!
AdCap Problem
Give you a giant thought to assist create significant change and more healthy faculty communities. Then use the AdCap mission designer to submit your thought, and compete for funding to deliver your mission to life.
AFSA Nationwide Excessive College Essay Contest
If you happen to’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 satisfy with a pacesetter on the Division of State.
All American Excessive College Movie Pageant
Scholar movies have the chance to grow to be an Official Choice, screened on the AMC Empire 25 Theatres in Instances Sq., the busiest movie show in America! Every October, hundreds of scholar filmmakers collect in New York Metropolis for an action-packed weekend of sources 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 by artistic storytelling that celebrates unsung heroes from historical past. College students submit high-quality artistic artwork initiatives within the visible arts, narrative movie, theater, and inventive nonfiction genres. Winners can obtain hundreds of {dollars} in prizes.
Blue Ocean Competitors
Entrepreneurial highschool college students pitch their progressive 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 staff of as much as 4 individuals.
Breakthrough Junior Problem
College students submit a giant scientific thought in elementary physics, life sciences, or arithmetic in video type. Winners obtain faculty scholarships, plus cash for his or her trainer and college.
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 artwork 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, remedy an essential drawback, and set up your self as an entrepreneur. You may simply change the world within the course of! College students work in groups of two to 5 to compete for prizes akin to scholarships, pro-bono authorized and consulting providers, and a Dell Chromebook.
C-SPAN’s StudentCam Competitors
This nationwide contest invitations all center and highschool college students to create a five-to-seven-minute documentary based mostly on an annual theme.
DECA Aggressive Occasions
DECA prepares rising leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in advertising, finance, hospitality, and administration. DECA’s aggressive occasions could 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 educational topics like literature and science in addition to the broader world of standard tradition and present occasions. Native center faculty 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 faculty can subject a staff of 15 to 40, giving numerous youngsters an opportunity to take part.
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) Contest
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) is an annual occasion for lecturers and college students in grades 6–12 that promotes crucial considering expertise by project-based studying. College students start their journey by presenting their initiatives in lecture rooms, faculties, and districts all over the world. Prime entries are invited to the state/affiliate-level contests. The highest two entries in each class on the state/affiliate stage 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 high three ensemble compositions to be carried out and recorded by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra on the NYCC Composium held in Orlando, Florida.
New York Instances Scholar Writing Contests
Every month, the New York Instances pronounces a brand new writing contest for center and highschool college students ages 13 to 19. The matters and necessities are totally different every month, with one thing to enchantment to all kinds 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 novel storyline the place individuals should reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do no matter it takes to resolve the problem. The challenges are all arrange with the intent of being hacked, making it a wonderful, authorized strategy 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 college of Princeton College, college students submit quick performs in an effort to win recognition and money prizes of as much as $500. (Be aware: Solely open to eleventh graders.)
Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards
The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for artistic teenagers (ages 13+, grades 7–12) awards scholarships and offers youngsters an opportunity to showcase their expertise for among the foremost leaders within the arts.
Resolve for Tomorrow
The Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow competitors invitations center and highschool lecturers to steer a gaggle of scholars in making a STEM-centered resolution that addresses a necessity of their communities. 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.
House Settlement Design Competitions
These occasions emulate, as carefully as doable for highschool college students, the experiences of working as members of aerospace design and proposal groups. College students study cooperation, administration, and communication expertise. Finalists win the possibility to journey to Kennedy House Heart!
Stossel within the Classroom
Stossel within the Classroom desires to know what highschool and center faculty 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 staff 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 high!
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 research camp and worldwide examination contest over the summer season.
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 world 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 by artistic storytelling that celebrates unsung heroes from historical past. College students submit high-quality artistic artwork initiatives within the visible arts, narrative movie, theater, and inventive 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 based mostly 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 6–8 to follow crucial 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 educational topics like literature and science in addition to the broader world of standard tradition and present occasions. Native center faculty 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 faculty can subject a staff of 15 to 40, giving numerous youngsters an opportunity to take part.
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) Contest
Nationwide Historical past Day (NHD) is an annual occasion for lecturers and college students in grades 6–12 that promotes crucial considering expertise by project-based studying. College students start their journey by presenting their initiatives in lecture rooms, faculties, and districts all over the world. Prime entries are invited to the state/affiliate-level contests. The highest two entries in each class on the state/affiliate stage are then invited to the Nationwide Contest.
New Moon Women
New Moon Women publishes contributions from women ages 8–14. The journal publishes 4 occasions every year, and submissions usually tend to be printed in the event that they match an upcoming editorial theme.
New York Instances Scholar Writing Contests
Every month, the New York Instances pronounces a brand new writing contest for center and highschool college students ages 13 to 19. The matters and necessities are totally different every month, with one thing to enchantment to all kinds of younger authors and journalists.
Ocean Consciousness Contest
College students ages 11 to 18 can find out about environmental points by art-making and inventive communication, discover their relationship to a altering world, and grow to be advocates for constructive change. Submit a chunk recognizing local weather change heroes, utilizing visible arts, poetry and inventive writing, movie, performing arts, or multimedia. Prizes embody 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 novel storyline the place individuals should reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do no matter it takes to resolve the problem. The challenges are all arrange with the intent of being hacked, making it a wonderful, authorized strategy 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 based mostly on the yr’s immediate. Winners obtain certificates in numerous ranges of distinction.
Ranger Rick Photograph Contest
Children 13 and beneath can enter any nature-themed photograph they’ve taken on their very own utilizing a digicam or telephone digicam app. Each month, winners might be chosen by the judges and posted on the competition homepage within the Current Contest Winners slideshow. On-line winners might be within the operating for Ranger Rick’s “Your Greatest Pictures” Journal Award. Journal Award winners might 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/paintings that comes with a minimum of one rubber band. College students can compete in considered one of two separate divisions: Arts & Leisure or Science & Engineering. Winners obtain as much as $300.
Scholastic Artwork & Writing Awards
The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for artistic teenagers (ages 13+, grades 7–12) awards scholarships and offers youngsters an opportunity to showcase their expertise for among the foremost leaders within the arts.
Resolve for Tomorrow
The Samsung Resolve for Tomorrow competitors invitations center and highschool lecturers to steer a gaggle of scholars in making a STEM-centered resolution that addresses a necessity of their communities. 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.
Stossel within the Classroom
Stossel within the Classroom desires to know what highschool and center faculty 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 world 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, progressive resolution that might remedy an on a regular basis drawback. Ten finalists might 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 notably inquisitive 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 Okay–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 hundreds of thousands of viewers with their design.
New Moon Women
New Moon Women publishes contributions from women ages 8 to 14. The journal publishes 4 occasions every year, and submissions usually tend to be printed in the event that they match an upcoming editorial theme.
Ranger Rick Photograph Contest
Children 13 and beneath can enter any nature-themed photograph they’ve taken on their very own, utilizing a digicam or telephone digicam app. Each month, judges choose winners and publish them on the competition homepage within the Current Contest Winners slideshow. On-line winners might be within the operating for Ranger Rick’s “Your Greatest Pictures” Journal Award. Journal Award winners might 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
90-Second Newbery Movie Pageant
The 90-Second Newbery Movie Pageant is an annual video contest wherein younger filmmakers create motion pictures that inform the complete story of a Newbery award–successful ebook in about 90 seconds. Successful entries are screened at occasions nationwide together with in New York, Chicago, and Boston.
Celebrating Artwork
This contest is open to Okay–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 reward card when a minimum of 10 of their college students submit an entry.
Discovery Award
The Lowell Milken Heart for Unsung Heroes Discovery Award offers college students in grades 4–12 a novel alternative to analysis major sources and develop excellent initiatives that function unsung heroes who can function function fashions and encourage others to create change.
EngineerGirl Writing Contest
Annually, EngineerGirl sponsors an essay contest with matters 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 inquisitive about incorporating an interdisciplinary mission into their curriculum. It’s open to college students in grades 3 and up.
Invention Conference
The Invention Conference program is a Okay–12 project-based studying curriculum that helps college students study to suppose critically and establish 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 Pageant, held every November. Though entrants have to be a minimum of 18 to enter, dad and mom and guardians can enter submissions on behalf of their youthful youngsters.
NASA Langley Scholar Artwork Contest
The competition is open to all Okay–12 college students attending public, non-public, parochial, and residential faculties who’re residents of the USA, and grades Okay–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 unique artworks within the areas of dance choreography, movie manufacturing, literature, music composition, pictures, and visible arts. Native winners transfer on to the regional, state, and nationwide ranges. Nationwide-level awards embody an $800 prize and a visit to the Nationwide PTA Conference.
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’ll win superior prizes!
Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee
Is the nation’s subsequent spelling champion in your individual classroom? Discover out by holding your individual 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 Scholar Concepts for a Higher America contest welcomes functions from pre-Okay by twelfth grade. Enter any thought for a brand new strategy to exhibit an academic idea, an thought for a brand new product, or an enchancment for an current product or process.
College students With Options
Interact your college students in bullying prevention with this competitors. College students watch a video adopted by a handout evaluate. Then they reply to the content material in their very own artistic means by artwork, writing, graphics, or movies for the possibility to win prizes for his or her faculty.
Telling Room Founders Prize
College students ages 6–18 can submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to The Telling Room. Annually, they award the Founders Prize to the very best piece of writing to come back out of a Telling Room program.
