Kentucky Teacher

Students between the ages of 13 and 21 who sing well and are members of 4-H or FFA are invited to submit videos of themselves singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

Videos will be posted online for popular voting to determine four finalists. The four finalists will be interviewed, and their performances will be recorded for airing on national TV. Online voting will determine the grand prize winner.

Videos must be received by June 15. For more details, visit www.fmccrop.com/grower/Anthem-Singing-Contest.aspx.

Each year the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts conducts a statewide writing contest to recognize young writers in elementary school, middle school, high school and college. Teachers may submit student writing to the contest.

Students’ writing can be submitted in several categories. Winners will receive a certificate and recognition at next year’s KCTE/LA conference. They also will have their writing published in the Kentucky English Bulletin. Details can be found by visiting http://www.kcte.org/and clicking on the Annual Writing Contest link.

The deadline for entries is May 7.

As a part of their efforts to involve Kentucky students in the annual Derby festivities, Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear have announced a design contest for Kentucky middle and high school students.

Sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Education, this year’s contest helps incorporate the arts through advanced technology. Students are asked to digitally design a jockey silk image to be displayed and promoted on 2012 Derby websites. Once the designs are submitted, they will be displayed on the Governor’s Derby Celebration Facebook page at www.facebook.com/2012GDC?filter=1.

Winners will receive a commemorative 2012 Governor’s Derby Poster and have their winning design tweeted by Gov. Beshear. Projects may be submitted by an individual student, a class, a team of students or school clubs or organizations. Each design must include the students’ names, school, school district and a description of the project design. The deadline to submit entries is May 1.

Jockeys traditionally wear colorful jackets, called jockey silks or racing colors. Each racehorse’s owner has a unique pattern for silks and during the races, and many attendees identify their selected horse by looking for specific colors and silks worn by the jockey. Students are encouraged to consider the silk’s color, pattern, fabric, crest, shape and fastening for their design creations. Each submitted project must include a description of how and why the design was chosen and what the various designs’ colors and shapes represent.

Project design entries must to be submitted to Donna Melton by Tuesday, May 1 to qualify to win the contest.

Earlier this month, Gov. and Mrs. Beshear announced that the 76^th annual Governor’s Derby Celebration will be held in historic downtown Frankfort for the second year in a row. This year’s celebration will be held on Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 5 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET and is free and open to the public. For more information on the celebration, go to http://governor.ky.gov/derbycelebration/.

The Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts (KCTE/LA) is accepting entries for its 2012 writing contest.

The contest is designed to recognize the exceptional writing of Kentucky students. All current KCTE/LA members may send student work into the competition.

The deadline for submissions is May 7. Click http://contest.kcte.org/student.html for more information or contact Deborah Bell at (270) 809-4725.

McGraw-Hill Education has launched the STEM Innovative Educator Awards to recognize and reward teachers who are finding innovative ways to reach today’s students.

The awards, known as the STEMIEs, will acknowledge teachers who are pioneering effective techniques to engage their students in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Teachers can enter by submitting a two-minute video, a short essay and a lesson plan that demonstrates an innovative lesson or other project from their classroom. First place will receive $15,000, second place gets $5,000, and third place wins $2,500, plus McGraw-Hill will grant an additional $2,500 in other awards. In addition to the judging panel, members of the general public will have the opportunity to vote online for their favorite video. Applications will be accepted through May 31.

For more information about the STEMIEs, go to www.mheonline.com/stemie.

KET invites kids in kindergarten through fifth grade to submit their original illustrated stories to its annual Young Writers Contest.

Click here to read stories chosen as winners in last year’s contest.

KET will select winners at each grade level and award prizes. The first-place stories in each grade level will be published on KET’s website.

Submissions will be accepted through April 15. Click here for more details, including all official rules and the entry form.

Since 1989, schools across the United States have taken part in National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) celebrations in an effort to increase awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) to all children.

School breakfast is not only good for children’s physical well-being, but also for their cognitive abilities. Research has shown that kids who eat breakfast score better on tests, have fewer health issues and even behave better.

This year, National School Breakfast Week is March 5-9. The Kentucky Department of Education’s Division of School and Community Nutrition (SCN) invites schools to join the National School Breakfast Week advocacy by celebrating and participating in a “spirit” contest for all sponsors of the SBP.

Schools may plan festivities, then share what they’ve done to celebrate National School Breakfast Week. Winners will be recognized by Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday at a ceremony in Frankfort, set for April 19.

The deadline to enter is March 22. Full contest rules and entry instructions can be found here.

The Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest is the culmination of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Junior Duck Stamp educational program.

After studying waterfowl anatomy and habitat, students may demonstrate their knowledge by drawing, painting or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species.

K-12 students attending public, private or home schools are eligible to enter. Students from around the U.S. submit drawings to their state, territory or district competitions. Winners from these competitions, called the “Best of Show,” are then submitted to the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest. One image from the 53 Best of Show entries will become the next Junior Duck Stamp. Entries for this year’s competition are due March 15.

Junior Duck Stamps are sold for $5 each by the U.S. Postal Service, Amplex Corporation and various National Wildlife Refuges. Proceeds from the sale of Junior Duck Stamps are returned to states for environmental and conservation education programs.

For rules and more information, go to www.fws.gov/juniorduck/ArtContest.htm.

The Secretary of State’s office has narrowed the field of slogan entries to 20 finalists in the Office of the Secretary of State Voter Slogan and Essay Contest.

The general public can now vote for a favorite.

Slogans are judged on how well they attract attention and express the importance of participating in elections. Go to http://www.sos.ky.gov/sloganpoll to vote. The poll will remain open through 2 p.m. on Feb. 28.

Kentucky 6th-8th graders were eligible to enter the slogan contest, and the essay contest was open to student in grades 9-12. Prizes of up to a $1,000 U.S. savings bond in the slogan contest and four $3,000 U.S. savings bonds in the essay contest will be awarded. The monetary awards are made possible by contest sponsors Houchens Industries, KEA Retired, Turner Construction, the University of Kentucky Scripps Howard First Amendment Center and U.S. Bank.

For more information about the contest, or to find out how your school, organization or family can get involved in any civic activities taking place across Kentucky, go to http://www.civics.ky.gov/.

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) is conducting a national K-12 Computer Safety poster contest to encourage young people to use the Internet safely and securely and to craft messages and images that will best resonate with their peers across the country.

The contest is open to all public, private or home-schooled students in grades K-12. The deadline to enter is March 1.

Winning entries will be included in the MS-ISAC 2013 Calendar, which is distributed to every state as part of the MS-ISAC Cyber Security Awareness Toolkit. Entries received also may be used in other national, regional and state cyber and computer security awareness campaigns.

For more information, contact Elaine Harrison Lane at (502) 564.2020, ext. 236