Vote in Doodle for Google's Contest

Between May 11 and May 18, you can vote for student created Google designs in Google's national "Doodle 4 Google Contest". Logos are broken down into age categories, and students were challenged to design a Google logo based on the theme "What I Wish For The World". It's definitely interesting to see how the younger generation views world issues. The winning logo will be displayed on Google.com on May 21st. Good luck to all the finalists!

More Contests for Teachers and Students

Thanks to the wonderful writers at Instructify, I learned of a contest for teachers sponsored by Inspiration software called the Inspired Visual Learning Award. Basically, if you are a teacher who has used Inspiration, Kidspiration, or Inspire Data software with your students, you are eligible to apply for this contest. Just send in a teacher and student sample of a lesson you created, and you may win fabulous prizes! Click here for more details from Instructify or click here for guidelines or click here to see the application. Deadline: Feb. 27, 2009

Are you a high school teacher? Encourage your students to apply for the BrainyFlix Vocabulary Video Contest! The contest, sponsored by the Alumni Association, wants to help students learn SAT vocabulary words by posting vocabulary videos made by students. The video that receives the most votes in the contest will receive $600 in prize money. $200 goes to the creator of the video and $400 goes to the class or school club of his/her choice. The site will also give out one free download from iTunes for every five videos that are submitted (for the first 1,000 videos uploaded to the site). Deadline: March 16, 2009. See example video entry hosted on YouTube:

More Contests for Students

The first contest is a poetry contest found though Creative Communication. The contest is open for K-12 sttudents and there are over $3,000 worth of prizes. The students who win the contest in each grade level category win money as well as a free copy of the anthology that is created from the winning entries. Schools with 15 or more kids accepted into the anthology will receive a writing achievement award and they are eligible for a $250 grant. There are three deadlines for this contest:

December 11, 2008 (for the fall 2008 contest)
April 14, 2009 (for the spring 2009 contest)
August 18, 2009 (for the summer 2009 contest)

The second contest is Global Schoolnet’s Cyber Fair 2009 contest. As stated on their website, “students are encouraged to prepare for the future - by thinking about the possible future, the probable future, the preferable future and the preventable future. Projects that best illustrate “future thinking” are invited to the World Future Society international conference in Chicago, Illinois, July 2009.” Click here for more information.

Science Contest for Kids: ExploraVision

Thanks to Vicki Davis’s Cool Cat Teacher blog, I learned about Toshiba/NSTA’s ExploraVision contest for kids K-12. The contest challenges teams of students (working under a mentor) to:

• choose a technology that is present in their lives
• explore how it works, when and why it was invented
• imagine and explore what the technology would be 20 years from now
• write an in-depth report to convey their vision to others

Prizes range from $5,000 - $10,000 savings bonds, a toshiba notebook for the school, and special gifts for the coaches and mentors. See the website for complete details.

Why should students enter? Strengthen the following skills:

• higher-order thinking
• communication
• organization
• imagination
• research
• collaboration
• writing skills
  

Deadline is January 28, 2009. What are you waiting for?

Image by ILoveButter from Flickr.

RELATED POSTS:

Way Cool Science Sites for Your Class

Visit Planet Science!

Periodic Table 2008 Style

Make a Wild Animal!

Contests for Students and Teachers in MD

1. MICCA K-12 Desktop Publishing Student Contest
Description: The K-12 Desktop Publishing Contest recognizes several K-12 Maryland student winners each year. Individual students may submit an original, written product that has been computer-generated. The entry may be fictional or non-fictional about a topic of the student’s choice. The writing piece should be well-developed, organized, and accurate; contain few errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics; and have an appropriate format for the type of writing selected (poetry, letters, etc.). Most importantly, the presentation style of the writing piece should reflect the best uses of technology when: formatting text, choosing a font and layout, and selecting graphics that enhance the piece of writing. There are 4 grade level categories for this contest: grades K-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12.
(I have seen entries win using Publisher, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, or Scholastic Keys.)

2. MICCA K-12 Graphic Art Student Contest
Description: The K-12 Graphic Arts Contest recognizes several K-12 Maryland student winners each year. Individual students may submit an original art product, color or black and white, that is generated with a computer. Entries must be completely computer generated, with no enhancements made using other artistic tools. The artwork should be mostly completed in freehand with a minimum of clip art or stamps; show originality and demonstrate elements of creative expression; have a center of interest that draws your eye in; be balanced with in the space used; and be unified so that all pieces flow with one another. The originality of the artwork is valued. There are 4 grade level categories for this contest: grades K-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12. (I have seen entries win using Microsoft Paint, Photoshop or Pixie)

3. MICCA K-12 Student and Teacher Multimedia Contest
Description: The Multimedia Contest recognizes several K-12 Maryland student winners and one teacher winner each year for their creations using multimedia software such as KidPix, Pixie, PhotoStory, Windows Movie Maker, and PowerPoint. Winners’ creations are featured at the annual conference. There are 4 grade level categories for the student contest: grades K-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12. (I have seen entries win with PowerPoint, Web Blender, MovieMaker or Photostory.)

Winners of MICCA grants and contests receive free membership to their annual technology conference in Baltimore to attend an award ceremony.