Contests. Competitions. Challenges.
Competitions of Skill.  Directories of Contests. Contests for Music Writing, Sports, Inventions, Poetry, etc.

Where to Find News About Contest and Challenges Requiring Skill of Some Kind

Everyone loves winning! Whether it's a cash prize... or merchandise... or a trophy... knowing that you're one of the best in your field spurs millions of people to enter contests of skill every year.

Contest Directories

ContestGuide.com

Contests and Sweepstakes

Contest World

Educational Contests

ThinkQuest Internet Challenge is an international program for students ages 12 through 19 that encourages them to use the Internet to create information-rich Web-based educational tools and materials. Awards are handed out across five categories: Arts & Literature, Science & Mathematics, Social Sciences, Sports & Health and Interdisciplinary. 

Food and Cooking Contests

Bays English Muffin "Toast to Trivia" Contest.  Weekly. Prize is one case of Bays muffins.
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TheLivingWeb.net eBay Auctions iPod Auctions iPhone Auctions HDTV Auctions Laptop Computer Auctions Digital Camera Auctions Toyota Prius Auctions Luxury Watch Auctions Gold Bullion Auctions Golf Equipment Auctions Home and Condo Auctions Wii Game Console

Invention Contests

"Man will always find a complicated means to perform a simple task" -- Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg Machine Contest The object of the Rube Goldberg Contest is to build the most INEFFICIENT device to perform a specified function in 20 OR MORE steps. "....Students use household items to try to build the most complex machine possible, to accomplish a simple task. For example, to turn the page of a book, a machine might include balls, string, various toys, pulley systems, old bicycle parts, mousetraps, recycled junk and more. The wackier the better! By building these crazy contraptions, students gain invaluable skills in creativity and science. Plus, it's fun!..."

The Lemelson-MIT Awards for Invention and Innovation "... honor both established and rising inventors for their ingenuity, creativity and contribution to invention and innovation. The awards recognize the profound impact that inventors can have on economic and social well-being..."

Invent America

Intel Talent Search "... The country's premiere pre-college science competition, the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS), a program of Society for Science & the Public, brings together the 40 best and brightest young scientific minds in America to compete for $1.25 million in awards and scholarships..."

National Museum of Education Young Inventors Competitions

First Robotics Competitions

Toshiba ExploraVision Awards Program

Art Contests

The World of M. C. Escher Tessellation Contest  You can also register to win a free Escher poster, drawn monthly.

Photo Contests

"The International Library of Photography is now accepting entries for its amateur photography competition. The contest is open to everyone and entry is free."

The International Library of Photography "...sponsors open amateur photography contests and online contests several times yearly. Thousands of people enter our contests. Each year, approximately 400 contest entrants win cash prizes and 1,200 win gift prizes. There is an Annual Grand Prize of $10,000.00. Each individual contest awards a $1,000.00 Grand Prize, forty First Prizes of gifts with a retail value of at least $35.00, four in each category and seventy-three Second Prizes of gifts with a retail value of at least $25.00 each without regard to category. Duplicate prizes are awarded in case of ties. Every day, we also award two $50.00 puzzle prizes for a total of 730 additional prizes each year. The International Library of Photography offers the world’s largest prize fund available to amateur photographers. Over the past five years, our organization has awarded over $75,000.00 in cash to amateur artists throughout the world."

Space Contests

The X PRIZE Foundation was established in 1994 as an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring private, entrepreneurial advancements in space travel. Through the X PRIZE -- an international competition that will award a $10 million cash prize to the first private team who safely launches and lands a vehicle capable of transporting three people on two consecutive suborbital flights to 100 kilometers altitude -- the Foundation plans to challenge present notions that only governments can send people and cargo into space.

The X PRIZE has been created for one purpose: to realize the dream of spaceflight for the general public. New and innovative spaceships will be created in pursuit of the prize. These vehicles will enable such markets as rapid intercontinental passenger and cargo transport, space tourism, and access to the bounty of resources available in space.

Annual International Space Settlement Design Competition This event is an industry simulation set in the future. Teams of High School students prepare designs for cities in space where over 10,000 people will live.

Space Settlement Design Competition  Another one!

NASA Ames Annual Space Settlement Contest Here are some highlights from previous competitions.

Avatar's Time Travel Triva Sweepstakes  enter to win one of 750 Avatar Watches

Out of this World Contest: Win a Piece of Mars! This contest is apparently over... but the information is still fun to look at! Win a Piece of Mars  Own a piece of the rock -- Mars rock, that is. As another benefit of your participation in Team Encounter, you will be entered automatically in a contest to win a rare Zagami Mars Meteorite provided by Encounter 2001 LLC.  Your valuable collector’s item will be a piece of the world-famous Zagami Mars Meteorite. Only a dozen meteorites throughout the world are known to have originated on Mars. You’ll have a chance to own part of the Zagami, the largest single Mars meteorite ever found and one of the most sought after meteorites in the world!

Golf Contests

Golf Channel Contests and Sweepstakes

Golf Tips Magazine Contests

Poetry Contests

WinningWriters.com sponsors an annual War Poetry Contest

LoadTV "Watch and Win" Contests  LoadTV says they are "the internet's largest provider of TV quality video" Subscribe for Free. Watch 2-4 minute clips to enter contest.

Writers and Screenplay Writers Contests

L. Ron Hubbard's Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest  "Established and sponsored by L. Ron Hubbard in 1983, the “Writers’ Award Contest” was a budding competition aimed at discovering, and eventually publishing, deserving amateur and aspiring writers. The field of speculative fiction, an embracing term for science fiction and fantasy, was chosen not only for Mr. Hubbard’s love of and success within the genre—but for the freedom of imagination and expression which it allowed as “a herald of possibility.”

At the time of its inception, the very idea of a contest of this scope and of a book filled with first-time fiction by amateur writers was seen in many literary venues as “untried” and “challenging,” but at the same time as something both “desirable” and “long-needed.” Expert opinions said it couldn’t be done.

Screenplay and TV writing contests  Frequently updated and comprehensive listing of contests.

Web Design

The Inc. Web Awards competition... honors small companies and individual entrepreneurs who use their Web sites to achieve business goals.

The 2001 application deadline has passed. Want a reminder to enter next year's event? Watch this space. We'll post the application opening and closing dates here after Jan. 1, 2002. Or send an e-mail message to webawards@inc.com. Important: Please put "Notify Me About 2002" in your message's subject line.

Meanwhile, if you'd like more general information about the Web Awards, please see our Frequently Asked Questions and coverage of past winners.