NEWS RELEASES > FEBRUARY 28, 2018
MCHENRY, IL — The Grand Prize winner of the 2018 Follett Challenge will be selected from among an elementary school in Anchorage, Alaska; a middle school in the Bronx, N.Y.; and a high school in Durham, N.C. In an online announcement today, organizers of the Follett Challenge unveiled the seventh annual competition’s three diverse semifinalists, as well as the 10 People’s Choice winners.
The Follett Challenge again will reward $200,000 in products and services from Follett to the schools/districts that nominated their innovative educational programs which teach 21st-century skills to students. A total of 133 schools/districts entered this year’s competition. The 2018 semifinalists are:
From the three, one Grand Prize winner will be chosen and announced April 27. The overall winner will earn a $60,000 prize in Follett products and services, plus a celebration at their school. The other two each will earn $30,000 in products and services.
The video announcement also revealed the 10 People’s Choice winners – those schools whose video submissions received the highest number of online votes from the public. Each of the winning schools earns $8,000 in Follett products and services. The top 10 are:
Marist High was easily the competition’s top vote getter with 6,314 votes; Fairfield ISD finished in second place with 3,520 votes
The scoring for this year’s semifinalists – singled out by elementary, middle and high schools – were 80 percent based on the judges’ rubric and 20 percent based on the number of People’s Choice votes received.
“Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Follett Challenge,” Britten Follett, a fifth-generation Follett family and Follett Challenge team member, told entrants in the video announcement. “Your stories of innovation continue to inspire and are a testament to the hard work of each and every one of you.”
Last year’s Grand Prize winner was a 180-student elementary school in Strong City, Kansas. The two semifinalists were a middle school in Mesa, Ariz., and a high school in Pensacola, Fla.
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