What is the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition?
The ThinkQuest Narrative Competition invites teams of students, ages 9-19, to publish their ideas on issues of global importance. Teams must use
ThinkQuest Projects as their online publishing tool, and may supplement their narrative with any multimedia components that ThinkQuest Projects supports. Each team must be coached by a teacher, who enrolls the team and guides the students.
Completed entries are published in the
ThinkQuest Library, the world's largest online repository of student-developed learning projects. Winning teams receive exciting prizes.
How do I participate in the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition?
Here are the basic steps to compete:
- First, the Coach enrolls the team. All team members must be members of ThinkQuest Projects.
- Once enrolled, the team develops a project using ThinkQuest Projects as their online publishing tool. The project must address one of the official topics.
- The team must submit their project by completing the Entry Profile by the Entry Submission Deadline.
The detailed requirements of the competition are explained in the
Checklist and the
Rules.
How can the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition enhance my classroom curriculum?
Whether you teach writing, civics, history, science, geography, art, or something else, the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition can help you engage students to create multimedia-rich classroom projects and develop 21st century skills.
Click here to view examples of how competition topics can spark fun classroom projects across a variety of core subjects.
Is there a fee for participating?
No, participation is free.
How much time does the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition take?
Teams have approximately four months to develop and submit their entries. Depending on the experience of the team and the scope of the project, the actual amount of time required to complete an entry may vary.
See the
Checklist for sample timelines.
When can I enroll for the next ThinkQuest Narrative Competition?
Coaches can only create teams when a competition is open. For competition dates, check the ThinkQuest website.
What are the important dates and deadlines?
Please see the
Rules for important dates and deadlines.
What are the rules?
Please see the
Rules for the policies governing the competition.
What are the prizes?
The winning entries will be featured prominently in the
ThinkQuest Library, a world-renowned educational resource. In addition, winning team members are eligible for exciting prizes. Please see the
Rules for more information.
Who is eligible to participate in the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition?
The ThinkQuest Narrative Competition is open to members of ThinkQuest Projects. Please see the
Rules for full team requirements.
How many teams can I coach?
Coaches may enroll any number of teams for a competition.
Can more than one teacher from a school be a Coach?
Yes, any number of teachers from a single school can coach teams. However, two teachers from the same school cannot serve on the same team (in other words, a team's Coach cannot be employed by the same school as the team's Assistant Coach).
Can a parent be a coach?
A parent may only serve as a coach if s/he is a member of ThinkQuest Projects.
Can a student join more than one team?
No. Students may only participate in one team per competition.
Can students participate in both the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition and the ThinkQuest Website Competition?
Yes, students can participate in both competitions, but there are restrictions on whom they can form teams with. See the
Rules for details.
Are students who have been winners in previous ThinkQuest Competitions allowed to compete again?
Yes, but there is a limit on the number of previous winning students allowed per team. See the
Rules for more details.
What is the role of a coach?
The Coach guides the students through the competition and serves as the primary adult responsible for the team. The Coach may also determine how best to integrate ThinkQuest with classroom curriculum (if applicable). The Assistant Coach can provide additional guidance and support to the team.
What is authorization?
View the
Legal Authorization section for information on authorization.
Can I authorize myself?
If you have legal signing authority for your school (generally, this means you are a principal, head teacher or other administrator), you may enter yourself as the Signing Authority.
How do I create a team?
Only the Coach can create teams. Instructions can be viewed in the
Enroll Team section.
Can we change our topic?
Yes, the Coach can edit all team information, including the selected topic, up until the entry is submitted.
Can we submit an entry in our native language?
The official competition language is English. The project content and Entry Profile, as well as other communications submitted to ThinkQuest, must be in English. Note also that file names must be in basic ASCII format (no accents or non-Western characters).
Can we update our entry after the Entry Submission Deadline?
No. Once the Entry Submission Deadline has passed, teams will not be allowed to make any changes to their entries.
In exceptional circumstances we may permit the editing of an entry (by us on behalf of the team) after the competition has closed and the entry has been published in the ThinkQuest Library. Please have the team's Coach contact us with your team information, the entry's Library URL, the edits you want to make, and the reason for requesting the edits (for example, misleading or incorrect information).
What is the Entry Profile and when must we complete it?
The Entry Profile is a short questionnaire about your project that will be viewed by Judges. As specified in the
Rules, it is a required component of your entry. Teams that do not submit an Entry Profile by the Entry Submission Deadline risk disqualification. See the
Entry Profile section of Help for instructions.
Must all of our entry content be hosted within ThinkQuest Projects?
Yes, the
Rules require that all of your entry content be published within your team's project in ThinkQuest Projects. No portion of entry content (including videos and games) may be hosted externally.
What multimedia components can we include in our project?
Projects may include any multimedia components supported by ThinkQuest Projects. See the
Create & Manage Content section of Help for more information.
What are the criteria used for Judging?
Judges will evaluate entries based on the
Evaluation Criteria.
Who are the Judges?
Entries will be judged by educators from around the world, who are recruited by Oracle Education Foundation Staff and Partners.
What happens to our entry after the competition is over?
All qualified entries from the competition will be added to the
ThinkQuest Library as public websites on the internet. Winning entries are displayed prominently.