Wouldn’t it be awesome if you did the thing…
These are real winning ideas from this year’s challenge.
…started a thrift shop so no one skips prom?
One student's idea: an anonymous school clothing exchange, from winter coats to prom dresses, so classmates can take what they need without anyone knowing.
No idea yet? Start with what bugs you.
Real ideas start as complaints. Pick one question, say your answer out loud — that’s the seed of an entry.
What do kids at your school complain about every single week?
What's broken, ugly, or unsafe on your way to school?
Who gets left out — and what would include them?
What does your grandma, little cousin, or neighbor struggle with?
What do you wish existed within walking distance of your house?
What made you mad this month?
Stuck? Talk it through with someone you trust.
Saying your idea out loud helps. Try a teacher, a coach, a librarian, an older sibling, or a friend. Ask them what’s confusing and what they’d want to know. They can give honest notes, but they don’t write your idea — that’s yours.
Questions about the challenge itself? Email hello@ideachallengenc.org.
We score the thinking, not just the polish.
The rubric is built so a parent’s editing skill can’t win the prize. Your own thinking can. Two trained judges watch your video and score two things:
Is the need real and specific, in a community you actually know? A specific person, a specific block, a specific town beats a generic pitch about world hunger.
Are there logical first steps? You don't need a business plan — you need to show you've thought about what it would actually take to start.
Judges also confirm the idea is genuinely yours — real personal stakes, your own thinking. And they’re explicitly told not to judge production quality, vocabulary, accent, or how comfortable you look on camera. A shaky video of an original idea beats a slick video of a generic one.
A $1,000 prize — no strings attached. When your idea wins, you earn $1,000 for the idea itself — and we don’t tell you how to spend it.
Up to $10,000 more (optional). Want to take your idea further? Together we develop a clear set of next steps — an implementation or testing plan — and if we mutually agree on those targets, up to $10,000 more in funding becomes available.
The hardest part is pressing record.
You don’t need an essay. You don’t need a presentation deck. You don’t need a parent to help you write it. You need a phone or laptop and the thing you keep thinking about. That’s the entry.
Know a kid who should do this?
Counselors, librarians, club leaders, parents, friends — the kids who are most likely to enter are the ones a trusted adult forwarded the link to. Be that adult.
