ELIGIBILITY

Each contestant must:

• Be a high school student of African descent
• Be enrolled in grades 9 - 12
• Be a citizen or a legal resident of the United States
• Be an amateur (having not received wages for professional services) in any category of competition.

REQUIREMENTS

1. A contestant may enter up to three (3) categories. Each contestant must submit one project per category. NO GROUP PROJECTS ARE ACCEPTED. NOTE Each local ACT-SO program may only submit one entry per category at the National competition.
2. Each contestant is responsible for transportation and storage of their projects.
   (all projects should be easily transportable.)
3. Each contestant must adhere to the requirements outlined in each category of competition ( i.e. time requirements, length of written entries, etc.), as failure to meet the requirement will result in point deduction and/or disqualification.
4. All National contestants must submit to their local NAACP ACT-SO the following items:
   1. A typed national application
   2. A 1 or 2 page typed autobiography
   3. A parent's consent form
   4. A medical release form
   5. A media release form
   6. A photograph with name of contestant and branch printed on the back (no larger than 5X7)
   7. A verification form for science categories
   8. Six copies of student's science or humanities entries
      (Look at respective categories for guidelines)

NOTE: These items must be submitted to the National ACT-SO office on or before than last Friday in May. All National contestants must compete with the same performance and/or projects used at the local level - corrections and /or modification may be made.

PATENTS AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

ACT-SO participants may want to consider applying for a patent or copyright to protect their work ( i e . sciences, humanities). You may contact the Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Patent Office at (800) 768-9199 for Patent information or the Library of Congress at (202) 707-3000 for copyright information .