Competition Categories

Students compete locally in up to three of 33 categories, including STEM, Humanities, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Business, and Culinary Arts. Local winners go on to compete with students from across the country at the National Competition.

ACT-SO New Jersey students, mentors, and supporters

Business

Entrepreneurship

Owning, organizing, and managing a business by providing a needed product or service.

Hospitality Management

Demonstration of restaurant and foodservice industry knowledge through a business proposal for a new restaurant concept.

Humanities

Music Composition

The science or art of arranging music by ordering tones or sounds in succession and combination.

Original Essay

A brief examination of a subject in prose, usually expressing a personal view or interpretation.

Playwriting

A literary composition developed for the stage.

Poetry Written

A composition marked by language chosen for sound, beauty, and evocative power.

Short Story

A brief work of prose that uses character, setting, and plot to tell an original story.

Performing Arts

Dance Ballet

Rhythmic and highly technical patterned bodily movements performed with grace and precision.

Dance Contemporary

Rhythmic and technical patterned bodily movements usually performed to music.

Dance Modern

Movement focused on the dancer’s interpretation, emotions, moods, and choreography.

Dance Traditional

Rhythmic movements reflecting the life of people from a region or country to tell a story.

Dramatic Arts Acting

The art of staging or acting plays.

Music Instrumental Classical

Performance using an instrument with tones of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Music Instrumental Contemporary

Performance using an instrument with the tones of the present.

Music Vocal Classical

Performance with the human voice using rhythmic tones of the classical tradition.

Music Vocal Contemporary

Performance with the human voice using the tones of the present.

Oratory

The art of effective written and oral presentation to persuade or inform.

Poetry Performance

An original poem or prose, written by the contestant and performed as a monologue or exchange.

S.T.E.M

Architecture

Plans for and models of structures and outdoor spaces.

Biology/Microbiology

The science of life, including the origin, structure, reproduction, growth, and development of organisms.

Chemistry/Biochemistry

The composition, structure, properties, and transformation of substances.

Computer Science

The theoretical aspects of computers, storage, and the transformation of data using computers.

Earth & Space

Sciences including geology, oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, seismology, geography, and related fields.

Engineering

Projects that directly apply scientific principles to manufacturing and practical uses.

Mathematics

The science of numbers, operations, relationships, formal logic, and applied computation.

Medicine & Health

The study of diseases and health of humans and animals.

Physics

Theories, principles, and laws governing energy and the effect of energy on matter.

ACT-SO New Jersey medalists

Visual Arts

Drawing

Representing forms and figures on a surface by lines executed by hand or computer-generated processes.

Filmmaking

The art and process of making motion pictures.

Painting

Art created by applying pigment on a two-dimensional surface with a brush, knife, hand, or digital process.

Photography

The process, art, and technique of capturing images with an analog or digital camera.

Sculpture

The art of making three-dimensional forms or designs.

ACT-SO New Jersey students across creative disciplines

Culinary Arts

Culinary Arts

The creative practice of cooking. Students must attend a school with a Certified Culinary Arts Program.