Kennett Middle School has entered a $200,000 national education contest hoping for a chance at one of the 13 prizes that will be awarded to recognize the best in K-12 innovation. In addition to completing an online application for the fourth annual Follett Challenge, Kennett Middle School also submitted a short video to promote its innovative program that teaches students the 21st century skills they need to be prepared for life.

Ten of the prizes, valued at $8,000 each, are from the People’s Choice category and will solely be based on how many votes applicants have received for their videos from the public. Video voting began Jan. 19. The middle school's video is now posted on the Follett Challenge website (FollettChallenge.com) under the “View Entries” tab.

After registering, users can cast one vote per day through Jan. 30, when voting ends. Not only are the public’s votes significant in the video voting portion of the contest, but they also will play a role in the overall rubric as 20 percent of each school’s final score is based on the number of votes generated for their video.

“We hope our community will support us by viewing our video and voting for our submission,” said Virginia McGarvey, teacher librarian. “Participating in the Follett Challenge recognizes our educators for the great job they are doing with the limited resources they have and, should we win, reward them with resources to do more. It also will give our educators here a platform to share their innovation with other schools across the country and throughout the world.”