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Academic Competitions When I was a kid, there was a weekend television program called College Bowl in which two four-person teams represented their schools in a fast-paced academic quiz contest. The idea was that the moderator (Allen Ludden and, later, Robert Earle) would offer a "toss-up" question. Whichever contestant pressed a buzzer first would get to answer the question. If he or she was correct, the team would get points and a chance to answer a bonus question. College Bowl was a perennial favorite among smart kids, who loved to play along at home and see if they could answer the questions faster than the kids on TV. Here are two questions from the original College Bowl: Who gave an Apple to Aphrodite and ran away with Helen? What is CIV minus XXXIX? Today, there are a large number of academic competitions, so if you are a smart kid, you'll find plenty of ways to compete against others of your kind. (Just in case you're not a smart kid, the answers to the two questions are Paris and LXV.) Web:
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Contest Advice If you get into serious contesting, you need to get serious about contests. Read this info to learn how to protect your privacy, stay off the spam (unsolicited mail) lists, know what laws apply to you, and best of all, how to increase your chances of being a winner. (Of course, as one of my readers, you are already a winner in my book.) Web:
Contest Talk and General Discussion This is the Usenet group devoted to announcing new contests. You will also find discussion about contests as well as questions and answers. If you like contests, this is a good place to check regularly. Usenet:
Debating Debating is a great way to use your firm grasp of logic, your wide base of interesting knowledge, your articulate delivery, and your ability to think extremely quickly, in a way that allows you to prove that you are right and everyone else is wrong. What could be more fun? Web:
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Hollywood Stock Exchange Do you think you could pick which films will be winners better than the Hollywood movie moguls? Of course you can, and here is your chance to prove it. Try your hand at this addictive online game, where you choose which movies and which stars will be successful. Create your "portfolio" and start to wheel and deal. Then watch your fortune go up and down based on real box office grosses of real films. Web: Online Lotteries In this book, I only put in resources that are free, and these lotteries are no exception. You can enter, wait for the results, and find out you've lost without ever having to pay a cent. So how do they make any money? Hmm... I guess they try to get you to buy something, show you advertisements, and sell your email address to other people who will try to get you to buy something, show you advertisements, and sell your email address to other people who... (But then, we can't all be winners.) Web:
Science Competitions Now, let's be honest here. Isn't it a lot more fun to work on a fascinating project for a science fair, something that requires knowledge, skill and persistence, rather than being parked in the living room watching TV or playing video games? Of course it is. And, if you're a guy, the best part is that when you grow up, you'll find out that scientists get all the good babes. (Everyone knows that.) Web:
Spelling Bee Would you know how to spell "appoggiatura"? That's the word that a young man named Anurag Kashyap had to spell in order to win the final (19th) round of the 2005 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. A spelling bee is a contest in which people compete against one another to see who is the best speller. Spelling bees are organized into rounds. In each round, the individual contestants are each asked to spell a word, one person at a time. Only those people who spell their word correctly may move on to the next round. Eventually, only one person -- the winner -- is left. Spelling bees can use easy or difficult words. With easy words, you can have a spelling bee with young kids, even those who are just learning to read. The National Spelling Bee is a championship in which very difficult words are used. For more information about this contest, take a look at its Web page. I enjoyed looking at the round-by-round descriptions, seeing exactly which words were used. By the way, "appoggiatura" is a musical term. It refers to a very short note that is used to embellish the main melody. Web: Sports Contests Your sports experience doesn't have to be limited to sitting around watching television. You can sit around testing your hard-won sports knowledge on the Net by entering the monthly contests sponsored by the World Wide Collectors Network. Not only will you impress your friends with your mastery of the esoteric, you may even win a prize. Web:
Sweepstakes and Contests Here's a gold mine of sweepstakes and contest information for both children and adults. These sites include instant win sweeps, writing contests, freebie pages and links to other sweepstakes pages. Win, win, win, win. (That's my advice.) Web:
Treasure Hunts Have you ever been on a real-live treasure hunt, where you follow one clue after another, looking for something special? Go ahead, form a team with your friends and try it. As one of my readers, you are smarter than everyone else, so I have no doubt you'll be able to find the treasure while everyone else is still trying to figure out the first clue. Web: Vacation and Travel Contests If you don't want to spend your hard-earned money on a vacation, you can always try to win a vacation in a contest. Here is a Web site where you can enter a variety of contests to win vacation-oriented prizes. Of course, if you did win a free trip, you would have to leave your computer and a lot of email would accumulate while you were away. Oh well, nothing is perfect. Web:
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