Competitions
Engaging in academic competitions is a unique avenue for enhancing your college application. Whether on a local or national scale, these contests offer a tangible platform to display your initiative, expertise (or talent), and commitment to personal growth.
ART COMPETITIONS
Celebrate the West Art Competition
FilmFreeway Film Festivals & Screenplay Contests
International Photography Awards (IPA)
Living Oceans Foundation Science Without Borders Art Challenge
Never Such Innocence Competition in Poetry, Artwork, Speeches, and Songs
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards by Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
United Nations Competitions & Contests
YoungArts National Arts Competition
BUSINESS COMPETITIONS
Stevens Institute of Technology Trading Day
The Wolves of Wall Street Competition
CODING COMPETITIONS
Air & Space Force Association’s CyberPatriot
American Computer Science League (ACSL) Contests
Apple WWDC Scholars Swift Student Challenge
Congressional App Challenge (CAC)
Girls Programming League Challenge
Harker Programming Invitational (HPI)
Hewlett Packard (HPE) Code Wars
International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
picoCTF sponsored by Carnegie Mellon (noncompetitive practice + annual competition)
USA Computing Olympiad (USACO)
HISTORY
American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) National High School Essay Contest
World Historian Student Essay Competition
LEGAL, CIVIC, LEADERSHIP COMPETITIONS
Bill of Rights Institute’s MyImpact Challenge
JFK Presidential Library Profile in Courage Essay Writing Contest
John Locke Critical Thinking Essay Competition (subject categories: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law)
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Voice of Democracy Scholarship (audio-essay contest)
MATH COMPETITIONS
Mathematical Association of America’s (MAA) American Mathematics Competitions (AMC)
Math Kangaroo International Competitions in Mathematics
MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge
STEM & SCIENCE COMPETITIONS
California Science & Engineering Fair (requires local advancement)
EngineerTeen Engineering & Art - Writing & Design Competition
Future Engineers Student Challenges
New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) Innovation Challenges
Orange County Science & Engineering Fair
Plant the Moon - Institute of Competition Sciences
Rube Goldberg Machine Contests
Society for Science Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
See also Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS) (site aggregator for competitions)
WRITING COMPETITIONS
Bennington College Young Writers Awards
Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) Essay Contest
JFK Presidential Library Profile in Courage Essay Writing Contest
John Locke Critical Thinking Essay Competition (subject categories: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Achievement Awards in Writing (nomination by English teacher)
Princeton Lewis Center for the Arts Poetry & Playwriting Contests
Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of Wonder / Sense of the Wild Writing Contest (intergenerational team of 2+)
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards by Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
United States Institute of Peace National High School Essay Contest
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Voice of Democracy Audio-Essay Scholarship Contest
Competitive opportunities are constantly evolving, and CMCA strives to provide up-to-date resources. If you’d like to recommend a competition, notice a discontinued offering, or encounter a broken link, share your feedback here.