Library Contests for Teens

(Ideas from pubyac listserv)

This is my first year in our HS library and I’ve done 2 contests so far. Since we can’t have a library cat, I got a bright betta fish to live in a glass pitcher at the Ref/Circ Desk. Winner of the “Name the Library Fish” got a big package of Goldfish crackers. Had 47 entries, so I let my senior library aides choose the winner by having 10 votes each to split however they wanted. This month, I took a Poetry Month suggestion and had a “Poetry In Your Pocket” contest for just 2 days (the high-stakes tests are this coming week, so a little relief, but not a big distraction). The poems had to be written down and could be copied or original. Every adult, from the principals to the teachers to the custodians, had contest tickets that they could trade when they asked students “Do you have poetry in your pocket?” Kids brought contest tickets to library for a piece of candy and chance at prize drawing for magnetic poetry set. Teachers gave me turned-in poetry for verification of prizewinner. Had 40+ entries. Both pretty good for first run. We do have 650 students, but the Library had been an off-limits zone for 12-13 years before I got here, so I have lots of “attracting back” to do!  Planning on bookmark contest, make a new book cover for an old favorite - to spruce up non-fiction (my predecessor didn’t like paper covers, so she threw them away! lots of black-spined books over there...) and anything else I can think up for next year!!

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We are a public library, not a school, but one contest we have run successfully for the last couple of years is an art contest for teens in grades 6 to 12.  We tell them the theme for the upcoming teen summer reading program (as chosen by our teen advisory board), and then we ask for a piece of art having to do with this theme—it’s a blind vote, so the kids don’t know who they are voting for.  The winner gets a gift certificate to a local art supply store, and the art is used on all the publicity for the teen summer reading club, as well as on the board of ed’s summer reading list.  Hope this is helpful.
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We once posed a competitive question over the morning PA that would most likely require use of library search.  Completed answers were placed in a closed box and examined for accuracy and announcement of “winners” on a given date.  Individuals sometimes received candy bars.  Classes sometimes competed for top scores.    Another idea was to take Polaroid pictures of small segments of familiar objects around school.   Post and number them and provide an answer sheet that gave pix number and space to write where and what.   First one to complete accurate was winner.   Might be a small segment of a pictures in the principal’s office, a figure on a doorknob, a peculiar crack in a floor tile,   the nurse’s car license plate, anything that calls for observation skills.    We had a lot of fun.
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We do regular contests at both our middle school and high school.  Some of the popular ones have been:

“Where in the U.S. or World?”  I cut up old atlases and students have to identify the states or countries.

“Who Am I?”  I give 4 or 5 clues each day and students make their educated guess about whom the person is.  We do a different person each day; students can win daily but all the correct answers whether they win or not go into a grand prize drawing at the end of the week.

Another variation:  I cut out pictures of people in the news and students need to identify them.

Kids love guessing how many candies/objects are in the jar. Every year we have a group that requests a coloring contest.  They still like to color in middle school and high school. I have done holiday trivia contests and they like those. They also like number puzzlers, mind winders and other puzzles that can be found in puzzle books.  I can send you copies of these if you are interested. They will get more involved if they get something, such as a small candy bar, if they enter.
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Hello!  I am in a public library, and we do a lot of passive programs for the older kids.  I cut up magazines and put part of celebrity faces in a collage and ‘Guess the Celebrity’, pictures of really weird, unusual animals in a collage, with books around the poster to look up the animals. We do a Poetry Cafe with the jr. high language arts classes and they read their own poetry or something they particularly like, and then if they check out poetry books, they get candy.  We do the seasonal ‘How Many’ in a jar, only geared more toward the older kids, as well as how many cd’s in a tub, how many picks of Brad Pitt in a jar, etc.  I went to a workshop one time where they (sorry, don’t remember the presenters’ names) had a ‘Guess the Roller Coaster’, with picks of roller coaster from around the state and the names to match up. They also did Famous Lovers Match.
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We have a Christmas Trivia Contest in December. Each day students guess the answer to a trivia question. I pull out all the correct answers and draw from those. The daily winner gets a small prize. All the correct answers for all of the days are put into a pot for big prizes the three days before Christmas break. None of the winners can have overdue books or fine.
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I am in the elementary but April is poetry month and we run a poetry-writing contest.  All entries are due April 30.  I line up 2-3 teachers and the principal and they are judges.  I tabulate scores and the top two winners at each grade level receive poetry books as prizes. I tend to do lots of quizzes because they’re fairly easy. I do one each day for National Library Week (things about the library, library staff, # of books by a particular author, etc.).

I also do quizzes for Hispanic Heritage Month, Banned Books Week, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month and St. Patrick’s Day. For Valentine’s, I took pictures of 10 faculty members’ eyes with a few clues about what their eyes like to see and had them match with the name.  This one got lots of interest because I gave away a $10.00 gift certificate to the movie theater!

I’ve run a yearlong thing with the 2003 Best Books for Young Adults.  If they read one, they need to tell me about it, and I made little slips and put their names in a coffee can and draw one each Friday.  They get their name in the announcements and a pop and candy bar (or whatever) from me.

For Halloween, we gave prizes for pumpkin decorating.  I think the categories were Scariest, Funniest, Most like a literary character, and Best in Show.  I gave away 1 pound of candy for each category with Best in Show getting 10 pounds.  I displayed the 13 pounds of candy in a locked case for a week, and, boy, did I get lots of questions and interest!
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I did a Seuss style poetry contest (some teachers assigned it as extra credit). I also did a drawing. To enter the drawing the student had to show me their public library card. The library card allows them to access the Gale Group databases that the public library subscribes to.
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This is always a fascinating subject for high schools.  We have had the following:

*Drawing for gift certificates - students put name in box when checking books out *Name the Book  (paragraph from a book displayed on banner)
*Library Card Sleuths (video production students approach students during the first few weeks and if they have their library cards, they are given bookmarks and name put in drawing for gift certificates).
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We are a small 7-12 school of about 300 students.  I have several contests that I do throughout the school year.  I usually have daily trivia contests during Teen Read Week, and a Decorate the Doors Contest that week also.  Last year, students in their English classrooms decorated the doors of several of the classrooms in our building to illustrate a poem.  The students did a great job and the faculty chooses the winning door per grade level, with 11 & 12 combined because of the small size of those classes.  The winners received a popcorn party.  I also had a Penny War to raise money in the library for an author visit.  Domino’s donated a pizza party to the winning grade level.  Around Thanksgiving I had a pumpkin that students could guess the weight of, and the winner received a portable CD player.  Trivia contests are popular among my students and faculty both, and I usually run them during the Book Fair also.