Like so much of the market place, competitions for schools are no longer the catch-all that they once were.   Teachers are busy, and their timetables are full, which means that the only way to grab their attention through a competition is to make sure it meets these criteria:

• That it involves doing work which is already part of the curriculum.   Since there is no spare time on the time-table nothing else will do.
• That the prize is one that will benefit both the teacher and the winning student or the winning class.  A prize which simply benefits the school is no attraction at all.  There is no point offering the school a free computer as a prize - the chances are the winners will get nothing out of that.
• If you give a cash prize make sure you are clear who it is for.  A cash prize of £100 is nice for a pupil, but hopeless for the school, and of little interest to the teacher.
• The winners - and the more winners there are the better - need to get recognition for their work, either through public display, through having a celebrity give the prizes, or through getting a trip to an exciting place to get the prize.  In short you need an occasion to which you can invite the media and get lots of pictures and/or recordings.  Try to get the celebrity to be part of the judging too.
• Everyone should get something - even if it is just a groovy t-shirt unique to the competition (but you have to make it a shirt that the pupils will want to wear).  But if everyone gets more than that, then even better.
• Everyone should have lots of promotional literature and information once they have started on the competition so that they know who the sponsor is, and what it is all about.

Additionally, you need to think about how and where you are going to receive entries (having them sent to a small office in London is pointless - there won't be room to open them up, let alone set them out for the judges.)   

Also work out the time scale - considering it not from your point of view but from that of the teachers.  Fit it around holidays, exams and the like.  Think of how long such work will take, when it will be organised, and thus when it needs to be started.

Have a registration period so that everyone thinking of entering registers their intent (and gets something in return).

If you would like to talk more with us about the competitions we have run please do call 01536 399 000.