How it works
The Idea Challenge is a statewide contest for North Carolina — students in grades 5–12 and educators, on two parallel tracks. You don’t need experience. You don’t need an adult to lead the way. You just need an idea about something you’ve noticed in your school, neighborhood, town, or community. You make a short video about it — and you can take as many tries as you want.
The window + the money
Submissions are rolling from July 15 to October 4, 2026. Submit any day — we review within 10 days and come back with a yes or a no.
- ✦ Students and educators alike: winners get $1,000. Up to $10,000 more if you make real progress.
- ✦ Pool: $500K total — $250K students + $250K educators.
The prompt
Just one question: What’s your idea to help your community?
What you submit
A 1–2 minute video — just you, on camera, explaining your idea. We give you a recorder right in your browser. Take as many tries as you want; only your chosen take counts.
Help if you want it (optional)
Not everyone has a parent, teacher, or older sibling to brainstorm with. The wealth-gap version of that imbalance is exactly what this challenge is built to neutralize. So we’re lining up volunteer human helpers — adults who’ll spend 15 minutes with any student who wants to think their idea through. By Zoom, email, or phone.
Helpers ask questions and give honest notes. They don’t write the idea — that’s yours. There’s no AI you have to use; you just need the idea you’ve been thinking about.
Email hello@ideachallengenc.org with your idea and a few times that work for you, and we’ll get you connected.
How we judge
Two trained judges score two things: Community impact (is the need real, specific, and grounded in a community you actually know?) and Feasibility (are there logical first steps — awareness of what it would take?). Judges also confirm the idea is genuinely yours, and every applicant gets written feedback with their decision.
Is this fair?
Polish doesn’t win here. An entry whose video is a little stumbly but whose idea is real and original beats a slick pitch about something the entrant just read about online. We judge your thinking, not how fancy it looks.
Who’s behind this?
A program of Exponential Scholars, a North Carolina nonprofit. We especially want to hear from students and educators in communities where contests like this don’t usually go.
Educators — teachers, principals, counselors, coaches, club and community leaders: you have your own track — same prompt, same rubric, parallel pool.
Counselors, librarians, club leaders, parents, friends: be a champion — there’s a page for how to spread the word or run a session.