The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

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Abstract �� Tracy L. Riley Competitions are recommended for identifying and providing for the exceptional talents of young people. Competitions have been a cornerstone of gifted education, putting talents to the test by enabling gifted students to showcase their abilities and receive acknowledgement and recognition for their talents. Competitions have been noted as “a training ground for excellence” (Riley & Karnes, 2007, p. 146), but also as “breeding grounds for problems with equity” (p. 151); however, there is support for the facilitation of competitions in schools or for individuals or teams of students. This article explores the literature on competitions, including issues of equity and excellence. It concludes that excellence with equity can be achieved for talented competitors through thoughtful, well-planned facilitation by schools and teachers, and provides step-by-step guidance for practitioners wanting to implement competitions in their gifted programmes. The article also highlights and details many of the international competitions that challenge and celebrate creativity and innovation, providing a description of each competition, contact details, entry criteria, costs, and prizes. Keywords: Competitions; equity; excellence; creativity; innovation; potential risk. Introduction A competition is “a contest whereby two or more individuals or groups vie for some type of incentive (e.g., prizes, awards, recognition). Contests may be skill-oriented, knowledgeoriented, or luck-oriented” (Riley & Karnes, 2009, p. 165); as such, they are great platforms for showcasing innovation and creativity for students of all ages in academic areas, fine and performing arts, leadership, service learning, and athletics (Karnes & Riley, 1996, 2005; Riley & Karnes, 1998/99; 1999a; 1999b; 2005; 2007; 2009). Competitions celebrate creativity and innovation within a single discipline, or across multiple disciplines, as part of the school curriculum, as an out of school opportunity, or as a world-wide event. Competitions may be designed for individual student participation or group entry. Campbell, Wagner, and Walberg (2001) describe three types of competitions: teams of talented students; long-term independent research projects; and tests to identify exceptional talent. Furthermore, competitions span many areas of talent and provide a platform for an array of creative challenges. For example, one of the longest standing team competitions for creativity is the Future Problem Solving Program developed by Dr. Paul Torrance in 1974. This is an international program serving thousands of students throughout the world with both competitive and non-competitive options, including Team Problem Solving, Community Problem Solving, and Scenario Writing. One of the most well-known long-term independent project-based competitions, showcasing innovation, is the Intel Talent Search in the United States which started in 1942 and involves over 1,500 secondary school students each year. Finally, amongst the longest standing testing competitions are the Olympiads, which date back to as early as 1894 when the first mathematical contests were organised in Budapest, Hungary, followed by the first ever mathematical Olympiad in St. Petersburg in 1934 (Riley & Karnes, 2009). These Olympiads test the content knowledge needed to launch into innovation and creativity. For a glimpse of the many competitions available for gifted and talented students, see Karnes and Riley’s book, Competitions for Talented Kids (2005), which describes over 140 such events. This article highlights and details more international competitions for showcasing innovation and creativity in the final section. Yet, can creativity and innovation be taught, or is it caught? This question has long been pondered by educators throughout the world, which has led to great debate over what constitutes creativity, how it can be identified, and if students can be taught to be creative. Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011. 63
This article argues that competitions can serve a dual purpose: identification of creative and innovative abilities and talents, as well as a provision for their development (Riley & Karnes, 1998/99). As Campbell et al. (2001) state, “One can create an arena where individuals are allowed to perform some task or set of tasks with those being selected as eligible whose level of performance is judged superior, by whatever definition or criteria” (p. 524). It is not surprising that competitions have been a cornerstone of gifted education, putting talents to the test by The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children enabling gifted students to showcase their abilities and receive acknowledgement and recognition for their talents. However, competitions have been noted as “a training ground for excellence” (Riley & Karnes, 2007, p. 146), but also as “breeding grounds for problems with equity” (p. 151). This article explores the issues of excellence and equity in competing for creativity and innovation, but addresses these through practical guidelines for the facilitation of competitions in schools or for individuals or teams of students. Why should competitions be used to showcase innovation and creativity? As Riley and Karnes (2009) explain, education and competitions are inextricably linked in at least three ways. Firstly, children naturally compete, and therefore, educators have utilised competitions to motivate, encourage, and spark learning. As early as the late 1 st century BC, a Roman teacher, Marcus Verrius Flaccus, is credited with introducing competition as a pedagogical tool by awarding antiquarian books as prizes (Riley & Karnes, 2009). More current theory indicates that competitions can spark short-term and long-term motivation (Cropper, 1998). Riley and Karnes (1999a) concluded that competitions can serve as a motivational spark plug. Secondly, in the ‘adult world’ there is an expectation of competitiveness and many societies teach their children to compete. For example, this is evidenced in countries such as Singapore, England, and Japan, whereby the national education system encourages competition in examinations for scholarships to university. Finally, competitions are designed as a way of developing talent for the workforce, complimenting educational initiatives in securing and developing a nation’s economic health. In today’s world, businesses are seeking creative, innovative thinkers, as technological advances and consumer needs become increasingly demanding and swiftly changing. Competitions have long-served as inducements for scientific and technological innovations, for as a Fortune magazine article explains, “The idea is to tempt geniuses to come up with breakthrough solutions to thorny problems” (O’Reilly, 2003, p. 54). Did you know, for example, that canning evolved when Napoleon promised cash prizes to anyone who could work out how to preserve food for his military troops? Lucky Lindy’s 1919 non-stop flight across the Atlantic was lured by the Orteig Prize and parking meters developed in 1933 as a result of the opportunity for a cash prize. Riley and Karnes (2005) state that the goal of these real-world competitions is not dissimilar to those developed for young people by their teachers, businesses, scientists, engineers, technologists, and other interested community members: to solve problems in creative ways. These three connections between education and competitions are but a few of the reasons for involving students in competition. There are other more compelling educational reasons for using competitions to showcase creativity and innovation, namely the potential benefits for participants. However, it must be stated at the outset that many of the benefits of competitions are speculative, rather than based on strong empirical data. There is a scarcity of research related to the effectiveness of competitions in meeting the unique social, emotional, and intellectual needs of gifted and talented students (Campbell et al., 2001; Rogers, 2002; & Olszewski-Kubilius, 2003). Riley and Karnes (1999b) assert that the benefits of competitions closely match the characteristics of creative students. These characteristics include independence, confidence, energy, risk-taking, divergent thinking, adventurousness, and enjoyment of playing with ideas. Competitions, it is argued, can sharpen these skills, and importantly, through being given the opportunity to showcase their abilities, provide a chance for students to develop self-awareness. Riley and Karnes (1999b) provide some evidence to support the notion that being recognised as creative, through competition involvement, alerts students to abilities and qualities of difference, of which they may not have been previously aware. They conclude that this newfound self-awareness raises self-esteem and self-understanding. Competitions also provide opportunities for students to further develop and enhance their content knowledge, process skills, and product design and dissemination (Riley & Karnes, 2009), all of which are essential in creativity development. Creativity, as a process, must be grounded in sound 64 Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011.
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The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

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