'23 - '24 Opportunities for the Gifted and Talented
Please check back frequently to this section, as it will be continuously updated with educational opportunities, unique to your GATE students needs and passions.
Breathe California's Tenth Annual:
Breathe California's Tenth Annual:
PSA Video Contest
PSA Video Contest
Contest Information
Public Service Announcements
Public Service Announcements
Public Service Announcement Videos (PSA videos) are used to create memorable messages that educate the community about something important. This contest calls on youth in 6th-12th grades in Sacramento County to create a PSA video to educate their community on the dangers and impacts of commercial tobacco products! Win cash prizes and get your PSA shown on local networks!
Click here or on the image to the right for more information and detailed rules.
Click here to submit your PSA video!
John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Essay Contest
John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Essay Contest
Contest Information
Profiles in Courage
Profiles in Courage
In Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy recounted the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers to do what was right for the nation. These leaders demonstrated political courage by taking a stand for the public good in spite of pressure by interest groups, their political party, or even their constituents. The Profile in Courage Essay Contest challenges students to write an original and creative essay that demonstrates an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage.
The maximum word count is 1,000 with a minimum of 700, not including citations and bibliography. Use at least five varied sources such as government documents, letters, newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews.
All submissions must adhere to contest requirements.
The contest deadline is January 12, 2024.
Contest Topic
Contest Topic
Describe and analyze an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F. Kennedy was born. Include an analysis of the obstacles, risks, and consequences associated with the act. The essay may concern an issue at the local, state, national, or international level.
Since originality is one of the criteria for judging, we strongly encourage students to profile an official in their town, state or region, or a leader who has addressed an issue of great concern to them. We advise students to avoid selecting a common essay subject. To assist in determining common essay subjects, please see the list below.
List of Most Written About Essay Subjects - We advise that participants avoid writing about officials on this list.
Contest Policies
Contest Policies
All entries must must include a completed registration form and be submitted by 11:59pm (EST) on January 13, 2023 to be eligible for judging. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, illegible, or incomplete submissions.
Decisions of the Profile in Courage Award Committee are final. Winners will be notified by email and via telephone by April 30. All participants will receive a letter notifying them of the winners along with a Certificate of Participation by the end of May.By entering, you agree that your essay will become the property of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and will not be returned. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation reserves the right to print and display the essays and photographs of the contest winners.
Contact the Contest Coordinator
Contact the Contest Coordinator
Important Note: Before contacting the Profile in Courage Essay Contest Coordinator, please be sure to read over the FAQ section of this web site.
Email: profiles@nara.gov.
National History Day Contest
National History Day Contest
2024 Contest Theme
Turning Points in History
Turning Points in History
Each year, National History Day gives elementary, middle school, and high school students an opportunity to research a historical topic of their choice that relates to a specific theme. They then create a project in one of seven categories that convey their historical research and findings. The annual National History Day® contest theme is designed to help you think of a topic from any aspect of local, regional, national, or world history. With this focus, you can begin to ask questions that your research will help you answer, including how your topic is significant in history.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, NHD’s theme will be Turning Points in History. This year’s theme invites you to consider questions of time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact and significance.
A turning point in history is more than just an important event that happened a long time ago. It is more than a new idea or a particular action taken by anindividual. A turning point is an idea, event, or action that directly, or sometimes indirectly, causes change.
The following resources are available to start defining your topic and begin your research.
2024 Theme Topic Inspiration & Resources can be found HERE.
The New York Times 2023-2024 Student Contest Calendar
The New York Times 2023-2024 Student Contest Calendar
(100-Word Personal Narrative Contest)
Can you tell a meaningful and interesting true story from your life in just 100 words? That's the challenge we're posing to YOU.
While this contest is not currently open (contest dates below), for inspiration read the work of last year's winners or follow this step-by-step guide for participating.
Contest Dates: October 4 - November 2023
(Review Contest)
Review a book, movie, restaurant, album, theatrical production, video game, dance, TV show or art exhibition, with advice from New York Times critics to help.
This year’s rules and guidelines will follow last year’s with one big change: Anything you choose to review must have debuted this year. (That means not that you watched a movie, read a book or heard an album for the first time this year, but that the work premiered in 2023.)
To see how it’s done, take a look at the work of last year’s winners and visit the related writing unit.
Contest Dates: November 1 - December 6, 2023
(One-Pager Challenge)
We’re once again ending the fall semester with an invitation that we hope is accessible and fun for students across the curriculum: Make a one-pager in response to any article, video, graph, photo essay or podcast published in The New York Times in 2023 (or early 2024).
The rules and guidelines will stay largely the same as last year’s. Let our step-by-step guide walk you through the process, and the work of these winners inspire you. To help you find content you will enjoy, we will also publish a collection of free links to over 75 pieces about young people published across sections of NYTimes.com this fall.
Contest Dates: December 6 2023 - January 10, 2024
(An Informational Writing Contest)
Following the example of the long-running Tip column from The New York Times Magazine, write a short description of how to do (almost) any task.
As long as your topic is appropriate for a family newspaper, you can explain whatever you like, including tasks that Tip has already taken on. But you must find, interview and quote one expert on the subject throughout your piece.
We’ll be publishing more materials soon, but until then, check out both the Tip column and our lesson plan that breaks its formula down. For advice on finding topics and experts, read this piece from Times Insider about how the column is constructed.
Contest Dates: January - February 14, 2024
Where We Are
(Photos Essays About Community)
Inspired by the immersive New York Times series Where We Are, which focuses on young people and the spaces where they create community, we invite students to work alone or with others to make photo essays about the communities that interest them.
You can document any kind of offline community you like and feature people of any age. Then tell us about it by sending five to seven images with captions and a short introduction. Stay tuned for a related teaching guide, but to see some stunning examples, scroll through the series and explore pieces like this one about Black debutantes, this one about a Texas campus ministry, this one about band kids or this one about a Korean American youth camp.
Contest Dates: February 14 - March 13, 2024
(Vocabulary Video Contest)
Produce a 15-second video about the meaning of one of our Words of the Day.
Here are last year’s rules and guidelines, which will stay the same except for one detail: You can work only with words published in our W.O.T.D. column after June 1, 2023.
For inspiration, take a look at the work of past winners.
Contest Dates: February 28 - March 27, 2024
(Opinion Writing Contest)
Our Student Editorial Contest ran for a decade, and we received truly extraordinary work, but it’s time for a refresh. This year, we’re asking you to draw on the same skills and passions to make your case, but this time in the form of an open letter.
An open letter is a published letter of protest or appeal usually addressed to an individual but intended for the general public. Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail, the recent letter signed by over 1,000 tech leaders about the dangers of A.I. and this funny 2020 letter addressed to Harry and Meghan are all examples of this rich tradition.
Just as we did for the Editorial Contest, we invite you to make an argument in 450 words about something that matters to you, and persuade us that we should care, too. But this time, you must address yourself to a specific target audience or recipient, institution or group — one that has the power to make meaningful change.
Whether you choose your parents, teachers, school board members or mayor; a member of Congress; the head of a corporation; or a metonym like “Silicon Valley” or “The Kremlin,” ask yourself, What do I care about? Who can make changes, big or small, local or global, to address my issue or problem? What specifically do I want them to understand and do? And how can I write this as an “open letter,” meaningful not just to me and the recipient, but to a general audience?
More information will be published soon. Until then, you can find ideas and inspiration in our related writing unit and via the work of past Editorial winners.
Contest Dates: March 13 - April 17, 2024
(Podcast Contest)
Make an original podcast of five minutes or less that informs or entertains listeners.
Here are last year’s rules and guidelines, which will stay largely the same. For inspiration, listen to the work of past winners and visit the related writing unit.
Contest Dates: April 17- May 15, 2024
(Summer Reading Contest)
As we have for 14 years now, we’ll be asking you to tell us what got your attention in The Times and why. But this year, each week we’ll invite you to tell us in a different way.
What will that look like? Every Friday for 10 weeks, we’ll post a new invitation, like this one — except that some weeks, we’ll ask for written responses, while other weeks, we’ll ask for video, audio or visual reactions of some kind.
We’ll publish more details in the spring, but the essence of the contest will stay the same, as will most of the rules and guidelines. For inspiration, take a look at the work of past winners and the related writing unit.
Contest Dates: June 7 - August 16, 2024
The John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth brings together the brightest minds of the next generation for an unparalleled academic challenge.
Take charge of your learning online, immerse yourself in summer academics, or explore subjects with the whole family.
Learning pathways for grades 2-12.
Online courses available worldwide.
Summer Programs sites across the U.S. and in Hong Kong
Summer Institute for the Gifted provides summer academic enrichment programs for gifted, academically talented, creative, and high potential students in grades K-12.
SIG is a place where gifted students can be themselves; it is a place of exploration, laughter, potential, creativity, innovation, and fun on a variety of prestigious campuses, that you can choose from!
The 2022 APPLICATION IS NOW OPEN- Apply Now!!
Northwestern provides unique programs to develop unique talents! These programs are designed to meet their needs, providing the right challenge and support to develop their talents fully. Explore what CTD has to offer:
Research-driven programming that supplements regular schooling
Hundreds of courses in nearly every subject
Dedicated, expert educators who fuel a love of learning
Advanced classes that provide enrichment and acceleration
Program models that fit a variety of schedules and educational goals
Resources and support services for families and educators
Supplemental Reading
Novel Titles (viewed in image carousel):
A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children by Webb, Gore, Amend, and DeVries
The Gifted Teen Survival Guide: Smart, Sharp, and Ready for (Almost) Anything (Revised & Updated 4th Edition) by Judy Galbraith, M.A. and Jim Delisle
Five Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options by Deborah Ruf, PhD
Living With Intensity: Understanding the Sensitivity, Excitability, and the Emotional Development of Gifted Children, Adolescents, and Adults by Susan Daniels (ed.) and Michael M. Piechowski (ed.)
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