ACT-SO competition categories
Student interest areas
ACT-SO inspires young Black students to expand their horizons and sharpen their skills. From performing and culinary arts to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), students can demonstrate their talents in up to three competition areas. Explore the 32 competitive fields.
ARCHITECTURE: The science, art, or profession of designing buildings or outdoor spaces.
BIOLOGY/MICROBIOLOGY: The science of life or of the origin, structure, reproduction, growth, and development of living organisms collectively.
CHEMISTRY/BIOCHEMISTRY: The science that deals with the composition, structure, and properties of chemical processes and phenomena of substances, and the transformation that they undergo.
COMPUTER SCIENCE: The science that deals with the theoretical aspects of computers including storage and the transformation of data using computers.
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES: The body of sciences that include geology, mineralogy, physiography, oceanography, meteorology, climatology, astronomy, speleology, seismology, geography, etc.
ENGINEERING: Projects that directly apply scientific principles to manufacturing and practical uses.
MATHEMATICS: The science of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions of spaced configurations and their structure. Development of formal logical systems or various numerical and algebraic computations and the application of these principles.
MEDICINE AND 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.
Sustainable Design (Pilot): Teams demonstrate their knowledge of sustainable and equitable neighborhood planning architectural design by responding to a mock request for proposal (RFP) for a real development project.
DANCE - BALLET: A series of rhythmic and highly technical patterned bodily movements usually performed to music using grace and precision.
DANCE - CONTEMPORARY: A series of rhythmic and technical patterned bodily movements usually performed to music.
DANCE - MODERN: A series of rhythmic and patterned bodily movements usually performed to music that focuses on the dancer's interpretations using their emotions and moods to develop choreography.
DANCE - TRADITIONAL: A series of rhythmic and patterned bodily movements usually performed to music to reflect the life of the people of a certain region or country.
DRAMATIC ARTS - ACTING: The art of staging or acting plays.
MUSIC INSTRUMENTAL - CLASSICAL: The art of performing with a device used to produce music with tones of the late 18th and 19th centuries characterized by an emphasis on balance, clarity, and moderation.
MUSIC INSTRUMENTAL - CONTEMPORARY: The art of performing with a device used to produce music with the tones of the present.
MUSIC VOCAL - CLASSICAL: The art of performing with the human voice rhythmic tones or sounds of the late 18th and 19th centuries characterized by an emphasis on balance, clarity, and moderation.
MUSIC VOCAL - CONTEMPORARY: The art of performing with the human voice rhythmic tones or sounds to produce music with the tones of the present.
ORATORY: The art of speaking in public eloquently and effectively. (This is not a dramatic presentation.)
POETRY PERFORMANCE: An original poem or prose performed as a monologue or exchange involving extemporization.
MUSIC COMPOSITION: The science or art of arranging music by ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination or in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.
ORIGINAL ESSAY: A brief examination of a subject in prose usually expressing a personal view or interpretation of a subject or topic.
PLAYWRITING: A literary composition developed for the stage.
POETRY - WRITTEN: An original poem or prose performed as a monologue or exchange involving extemporization.
SHORT STORY: A brief examination of a subject in prose usually expressing a personal view or interpretation of a subject or topic.
DRAWING: The art of representing forms and figures on a surface by means of lines.
FILMMAKING: The art and process of making motion pictures.
PAINTING: The art of laying on paints with a brush or a knife.
PHOTOGRAPHY: The process, art, and technique of taking images recorded by a camera and reproducing them on a photosensitive surface.
SCULPTURE: The art of making three-dimensional figures or designs.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Owning, organizing, and managing your own business by providing a necessary product or service.
CULINARY ARTS: The creative practice of cooking.
