Nature / Writing

Sunday May 22, 2011 Happy Victoria Day Weekend all! So after a few months of doing weekly round-ups of contests and such that are open to Ontario kids and teens, I've decided to try something a little different. The Problem With The Old Set-Up If you've been reading the blog posts you know that I would usually outline one or two newly-found contests or competitions, then include a list of previously highlighted youth opportunities sorted by deadline date. But the list was getting unwieldy, and I can't imagine it was terribly useful for anyone who'd missed the original explanation of each contest. Now All Youth Opportunities Are On One Page To try to remedy this, I've moved the listings to their own page. Now previously mentioned opportunities PLUS any new things I find will be collected together on the Youth Opportunities page (which you can also get to using the tab above). To make things easier for anyone who visits the page frequently, I'll be ...

Sunday May 15, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every weekend I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which includes many contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! For those in the Toronto area, the 50th Canada-Wide Science Fair is on this week and is open to the public on Friday from 9am until noon. Unfortunately I can't be there on Friday morning, but if you want to have a look at what young minds from across the country had on display this year, the fair is at the Newnham Campus of Seneca College. Check cwsf.youthscience.ca for more detai...

Sunday May 8, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every weekend I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which includes many contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! After a bit of a drought during the past few updates, this week I've got a solid bunch of opportunities for Canadian kids and teens. Several of them have deadlines this month (one's even next week!) so check dates carefully if something catches your eye. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, and happy Sunday to everyone else! Write the Wrong 2011 - National High ...

Sunday May 1, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every weekend I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which includes many contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! Well, I'm officially changing the Youth Opportunities info on the sidebar to say that I post on "weekends" since between last week and this week the Saturday thing clearly isn't always happening (at least this week I have a good excuse - Script Frenzy, which I'll write more about shortly). Earlier this month I wrote about the Student Vote program and how much I lo...

Sunday April 24, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every weekend I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which includes many contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! My apologies for the delay with the youth opportunities round-up this weekend, but as it turns out it wasn't even worth the wait - I don't have anything new to add! That said, there are a lot of end-of-April deadlines listed below, so the list of previously mentioned youth opportunities might be worth a quick review... Previously Highlighted Youth Opportunities APRIL D...

Saturday April 16, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which includes many contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! The youth opportunity I'm most excited about this week is the Get to Know contest; since I love nature and the arts and sharing opportunities for kids & teens, as far as I'm concerned this contest has it all! Robert Bateman Get to Know Contest • Open to Canadians 19 and under • Deadline May 23rd, 2011 The annual Robert Bateman Get to Know Contest invites youn...

Saturday April 9, 2011 [UPDATE: If you're looking for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Okay, so there's no list of youth competitions and contests this week. This week I want to focus on one initiative I've been reading about which strikes me as one of those simple ideas that could change everything: What is Student Vote? "Student Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with educators and education stakeholders to deliver experiential learning opportunities to help young Canadians understand and practice the responsibilities of their citizenship." - From StudentVote.ca Which translates to thousands of Canadian elementary, middle and secondary school students who are considered too young to vote still getting to cast a ballot in a mock election being held right in their school. Brilliant. Why Student Vote May Just be the Best Thing Ever Participating in a Student Vote campaign c...

Saturday April 2, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! Bridgestone Safety Scholars Video Contest • Open to U.S. and Canadian full-time students with a driver's license, aged 16-21 (excluding Quebec) • Deadline May 13, 2011 Now open to Canadians, the annual Bridgestone Safety Scholars Video Contest is looking for short videos (25 or 55 seconds in length) that deal with some aspect of automobile safety. Judges will sel...

Sunday March 27, 2011 Just this morning I learned that today is World Theatre Day. To celebrate, I'm publicly announcing my ridiculous plan to write three plays in one month. April is when Script Frenzy takes place, inviting writers at any level to try to write 100 script pages in a single month. There's no fee to participate and no judging of your results - all it takes to "win" Script Frenzy is to be one of the many people to reach the goal. I've twice "won" NaNoWriMo , the partner challenge involving writing a novel during November, and really enjoyed the rush to finish. I first wanted to try the same thing with a screenplay years ago* and even registered at the Script Frenzy website, but the timing has never been right, with other projects mid-way through as March was ending. The (Almost) Perfect Time to Frenzy This March, I'm wrapping up months of research for a new play. Originally I planned to have written a first draft long before...

Saturday March 26, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved! This week I saw an amazing video (via @alanfriesen ) about eight students who created their own "school within a school", pursuing independent projects while studying traditional high school subjects in a more personal way. It's fifteen minutes long, but The Independent Project is well worth it. (I love that it all started because student Sam Levin was co...

Saturday March 19, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] **Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved!** One thing I haven't been able to mention as an opportunity open to Canadian teens is the  Poetry in Voice Poetry Recitation Contest for Canadian High Schools , since in its first year it was only open to 12 Ontario schools as part of a pilot program.  But the plan is to open the program to all schools in Ontario and Quebec in 2012, then across the co...

Saturday March 12, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] **Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved!** Among this week's youth opportunities is a call for young spoken word artists to take part in the Raising Voices Festival this summer, which reminded me just how much I love Shane Koyczan. You probably heard him perform at the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but here's a YouTube video of one of my favourites. This week's opportunit...

Sunday March 6, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] **Every Saturday , urm... Every weekend I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved!** Apologies for the minor delay (I'm starting to think I should call this a weekend round-up rather than a Saturday round-up). I only have two new opportunities for youth this week, but they're both pretty good ones, ready to reward great ideas. Have at 'em! Great Questions of Canada Essay Competition • Open to Canadian high sch...

Saturday February 26, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] **Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee or creative rights are involved!** After a drought last week I'm back with a little flood of video contests, plus a short essay contest where doing good can earn you a trip to Africa! Happy Saturday everyone! smartgirl Contest • Open to legal residents of Canada, excluding Quebec, 16 years old and up • Deadline April 30th, 2011 Part of the Because I am a Girl campaign, the smartgir...

Saturday February 19th, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] I actually don't have any new youth opportunities to post this week, but below is the summary of previously mentioned opportunities with deadlines. Best of luck to anyone getting involved with something from the following list. Feel free to use the comment section to talk about your entry or experiences. Happy Family Day weekend! Previously Highlighted Youth Opportunities National Shakespeare Youth Festival (Registration open) FEBRUARY DEADLINES Hot Docs Festival Doc It! Showcase (02/25/11) MARCH DEADLINES Food Secure Canada - Good Food Hero Comic Contest (03/01/11) Everyday Heroes Festival - Video (03/01/11) Santa Monica Teen Film Festival Submissions (03/04/11) Sprockets Film Festival Jump Cuts Film Submissions (03/07/11) Delisle Youth Gallery - Call ...

Saturday February 12th, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Every Saturday I post about current youth opportunities that are open to submissions from Ontario residents, which naturally includes a lot of contests and competitions open to youth across Canada and the US. Please note I'm not attesting to the legitimacy or quality of anything listed here - read the fine print carefully and make your own judgement call, especially if a submission fee is involved! This week I've just got a couple of contests open to young filmmakers. Happy Saturday all! 2011 What’s Your Story video contest • Residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), the UK and the US, 13 years of age and older • April 5th, 2011 The Trend Micro "What's Your Story?" video contest is looking for short videos dealing with • Being A Good Online Citizen ...

Sunday February 6th, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Apologies all - this Saturday's round-up of opportunities for Ontario youth has turned into a Sunday night round-up. Where does the weekend go? (Seriously, if you have any idea where yesterday and the first half of today got off to, let me know. I'd like to have a word with them.) Hot Docs Festival - Doc It! Showcase • Documentary filmmakers aged 14-18 • February 25th, 2011 The Hot Docs Festival Doc It! Showcase is made of up short documentary films created by youth aged 14 to 18. Up to 12 films will be selected for screening during the Hot Docs Festival running from April 28th to May 8th in Toronto. Films must be ten minutes or less in length, have been produced between September 2009 and February 2011, and must (of course) be a documentary. There's no fee to su...

Saturday January 29, 2011 [UPDATE: It may be useful to browse these old listings as many programs are annual, but for more current contests and competitions, head to the Youth Opportunities page .] Here's the weekly round-up of opportunities for Ontario youth. I just post these as I come across them, so be sure to research any opportunity thoroughly and read all the fine print before getting submitting something yourself or recommending an opportunity to students. Show Choir Canada National Championships • Canadian high school show choirs • February 1st, 2011 There's still a few days left for high school choirs from across Canada to register to compete in the first Show Choir Canada National Championship , scheduled to take place in Toronto on April 8th & 9th, 2011. Dare 2 Move ParticipACTION Teen Challenge • Canadians aged 13-19 • March 21st, 2011 Beginning January 31st, Canadian teens are invited to submit a "creative message about the physical inact...