Student Resources
Competition Opportunities
The Angela Award recognizes a female student in grades 5-8 who is involved in science. It is open to US and Canadian students. The award is a $1,000 US EE Savings Bond or Canadian Savings Bond. The award was established in honor of Gerry Wheeler, Executive Director Emeritus of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).
Davidson Fellows
Davidson Fellowships are awarded to students under age 18 who have completed a significant piece of work in the fields of Mathematics, Science, Technology, Music, Literature, Philosophy or Outside the Box. The significant piece of work should have the potential to benefit society. The focus of the program is on gifted and talented students. There is no minimum age for eligibility. Four $50,000 scholarships, seven $25,000 scholarships, and five $10,000 scholarships are awarded each year. http://www.davidsongifted.org/fellows or send email to: [email protected].
Doodle 4 Google
Google is famous for the doodles that occasionally replace the Google logo. The Doodle 4 Google competition challenges children in grades K-12 to create their own play on Google's logo. Doodles are judged in four grade groups: K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12. There is one national finalist in each grade group. One national winner receives a $15,000 college scholarship, a trip to the Google New York office, a laptop computer, a digital tablet and a t-shirt with his or her doodle. (The winner's school or after-school program also receives a $25,000 technology grant.) The other three national finalists receive a $5,000 scholarship, a trip to the Google New York office, a digital tablet and a t-shirt with his or her doodle. http://www.google.com/doodle4google.
Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes
The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes is awarded annually to ten students, aged 8-18, who have developed an extraordinary service project that helped people and the planet. Half of the winners are focused on helping their communities and people, and half are focused on protecting the environment. Winners receive a $2,500 scholarship.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s scholarships are designed to encourage and support outstanding students from 7th grade through graduate school who have a breadth of interests, work hard, demonstrate a strong will to succeed, and have financial need.
The Foundation’s Young Scholars Program is designed to nurture exceptional students who have demonstrated, through academic excellence and extracurricular activities that they have the potential to excel. Students apply for the program in 7th grade, enter the program in 8th grade, and continue through high school. http://www.jkcf.org.
Kohl's Kids Who Care Program
The Kohl's Kids Who Care Program www.kohlskids.com honors students age 6-18 who are involved in community service. Candidates enter by being nominated by an adult age 21 years or older. Nominees are considered in two age groups, 6-12 and 13-18, with three prize levels within each group. More than 2,000 children will receive a total of more than $350,000 in scholarships and prizes. More than 2,000 store winners each receive a $50 Kohl's gift card, 194 regional winners each receive a $1,000 scholarship, and 10 national winners each receive a $5,000 scholarship.
National Marbles Tournament Scholarships
The annual National Marbles Tournament awards $5,000 in scholarships to mibsters (marble shooters) aged 8 to 14. The tournament is held in June each year. The children crowned King and Queen of Marbles each receive a $2,000 scholarship. A $1,000 scholarship is awarded to the boy and girl who win the sportsmanship award. http://www.nationalmarblestournament.org.
National Geography Bee
The National Geography Bee is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. It is open to students in grades 4-8 who are age 15 or younger by the date of the national competition. The National Geography Bee is a three stage competition, starting at the school level (competitions from mid-November through mid-January), followed by state competitions in April and the national competition in May. The ten finalists compete for college scholarships. The first place winner receives a $25,000 scholarship, the second place winner a $15,000 scholarship, and the third place winner a $10,000 scholarship. The school registration deadline is October 15. (There is a $50 school registration fee.) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/basics.html.
National High School Oratorical Contest
The National High School Oratorical Contest is sponsored by the American Legion. It is open to US students in junior high school or high school (grades 7-12). The American Legion pays for the travel and lodging expenses of the state winners and their chaperones. The first place winner receives an $18,000 scholarship. The second place winner receives a $16,000 scholarship. The third place winner receives a $14,000 scholarship. Each state winner who participates in the first round of the national contest receives a $1,500 scholarship. http://www.legion.org/oratorical or send email to [email protected].
National History Day Contest
The National History Day Contest is open to students in grades 6-12 in the junior (grades 6-8) and senior (grades 9-12) divisions. The projects relate to a specific historical topic or theme. There are seven categories, including individual papers, individual exhibits, group exhibits, individual performance, group performance, individual documentary, and group documentation. Within each category, the first place winner receives $1,000, the second place winner receives $500, and the third place winner receives $250. http://nationalhistoryday.org/Contest.htm.
National Spelling Bee
The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company. It is open to students in grades 1-8 as of their school finals (February 1) and who are under age 16 as of the date of the national finals (June 1). The champion wins a total of $28,000 in cash prizes and scholarships. The second place finisher wins a cash prize of $6,000, the third place finisher receives $3,500, the fourth place finisher receives $2,000, the fifth place finisher receives $1,250, the sixth place finisher receives $1,000, and the seventh place finisher receives $750. There are also assorted other prizes ranging from $50 to $600 for students who are eliminated in earlier rounds. http://www.spellingbee.com or send email to: [email protected].
NewsCurrents Student Editorial Cartoon Contest
The NewsCurrents Student Editorial Cartoon Contest is sponsored by Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. and is open to students in grades K-12. There are three divisions: grades K-6, 7-9 and 10-12. First, second and third place winners in each division receive US Savings Bonds.
Nicholas Green Distinguished Student Awards
The Nicholas Green Distinguished Student Awards are sponsored by the Nicholas Green Foundation and administered by the National Association for Gifted Children. One $500 US Savings Bond is awarded to a student from each state. Candidates should be students in grades 3-6 who have distinguished themselves in academics, leadership or the arts. http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=558.
Olive Garden Pasta Tales Essay Contest
The Olive Garden Pasta Tales essay contest is open to students in grades 1-12. Essays are 50 to 250 words on a topic that changes each year. The grand prize winner will receive a $2,500 savings bond and a 3-day trip to New York City. One student in each grade category will receive a $500 savings bond. http://www.olivegarden.com/About-Us/Community/Pasta-Tales.
Patriot's Pen
Patriot's Pen is an essay writing contest (patriotic theme) sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). It is open to US students in grades 6-8. More than 115,000 students enter the contest each year. The first place winner receives a $10,000 US Savings Bond. The 28 top national winners receive US Savings Bonds of $1,000 to $10,000. Entries are submitted through local VFW Posts. The contest is also known as the VFW Youth Essay Contest. http://www.vfw.org/Community/Patriot-s-Pen.
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards recognize children in grades 5-12 who have engaged in volunteer activities and have demonstrated exceptional community service. State winners receive a $1,000 award. National winners receive a $5,000 award. http://spirit.prudential.com/view/page/soc.
Red Vines Drawing Contest
The Red Vines Drawing Contest is open to children in three age groups kids (ages 6-12), teens (ages 13-18) and adult (ages 19+). In each age group and entry format there is one first prize winner of a $2,500 scholarship, one second prize of $250 and one third prize of $100. Entries (one per person) consist of an original work of art that features the Red Vines logo. Winners will be selected on the basis of creativity and relevance to the Red Vines brand candy. http://redvines.com/drawingcontest.htm.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are open to students in grades 7-12. More than 250,000 students enter the competition each year. Gold Portfolio Award recipients receive $10,000 scholarships (5 for art, 5 for writing, 2 for photography). http://www.artandwriting.org or send email to: A&[email protected].
Team America Rocketry Challenge
Team America Rocketry Challenge is a national model rocket competition open to US junior high school and high school students (grades 7-12). It is sponsored by AIA and the National Association of Rocketry. The top 100 teams compete for $60,000 in scholarships. http://www.rocketcontest.org or send email to:
ThinkQuest
ThinkQuest is an annual team competition in which students under age 19 create innovative and educational web sites. There are three age divisions: 9-12, 13-15, and 16-19. Teams may have three to six student members. Prizes include laptop computers, MP3 players, and digital cameras. http://www.thinkquest.org/en.
Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards
The Toshiba ExploraVision Awards is a competition for teams of 2-4 US and Canadian students in grades K-12. The goal of the competition is to encourage students to explore a vision of a future technology. The teams research a technology or device and project how it might change in the future. They identify necessary breakthroughs to enable the development of the technology and discuss the positive and negative impact of the technology on society. There are four divisions: grades K-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, and grades 10-12. Within each division, there is one first prize and one second prize. The first prize consists of a $10,000 US Savings Bond for each student on the winning team. The second prize consists of a $5,000 US Savings Bond for each student on the winning team. http://www.exploravision.org or send email to
West Point Bridge Design Contest
The West Point Bridge Design Contest is open to US students age 13 through grade 12 at the time of registration. Students compete individually (team of one) or in teams of two members. This engineering competition involves designing truss bridges. Each member of the first-place team receives a $10,000 scholarship. Each member of the five finalist teams wins a notebook computer. http://bridgecontest.usma.edu.
Young Naturalist Awards
The Young Naturalist Awards is a research-based science essay contest open to US and Canadian students in grades 7-12. Two scholarships are awarded to the winning essays at each grade level. The 7th grade winners receive $500. The 8th grade winners receive $750. The 9th grade winners receive $1,000. The 10th grade winners receive $1,500. The 11th grade winners receive $2,000. The 12th grade winners receive $2,500. Award winners and their family members also receive travel and lodging to attend the awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in the spring. There are also 36 finalists who receive a cash award of $50 and a certificate. http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards or send email to:
Youth Service America
Youth Service America offers the State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants to US children age 5-25 to implement service-learning projects for National Youth Service Day in April. One hundred $1,000 grants will be awarded. http://www.ysa.org/grants or send email to: [email protected].
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