Home > Resources Opportunities Community in Nature Prize Challenge 2026: Connecting Nature & Careers Through Afterschool October 13, 2026 Enter to win up to $5,000 for your program! Submissions are due December 10, 2026. Some of the most important work shaping our communities begins with understanding and caring for nature, and it takes people in many different jobs and industries to do it. STEM Next is proud to announce the second annual Community in Nature Prize Challenge for 2026, inviting out-of-school-time programs to design and complete activities that connect nature, community impact, and future careers. Youth teams will identify a local or global nature-related issue or opportunity that matters to them, explore the careers behind it, and connect with the world of work. What’s the Prize? We’re going bigger this year! Three first-place projects: $5,000 each Three second-place projects: $3,000 each Six third-place projects: $1,000 each Winners will be featured in STEM Next communications and may be invited to participate in future opportunities. How to Enter the Challenge Form a team: Your challenge team will consist of program educators and at least 10 youth participants (any grade level) in your afterschool program. Sign up for the challenge: You must complete the sign-up form letting us know your program site plans to participate. Please use an email address that is routinely monitored, as we will send emails throughout the challenge with important resources, reminders, updates, and submission information. Use the challenge toolkit to begin guiding youth through the challenge steps: This toolkit, which you will receive via email once you sign up, includes the challenge steps, eligibility rules, judging criteria, guidance for submitting your entry, and additional STEM resources. The four steps of the challenge include: Spot a Nature Opportunity: Choose one local or global nature-related issue or opportunity and explain what is happening, why it matters, and who or what is affected. Discover the Careers Behind It: Explore at least one career connected to the issue. Learn what someone in that career does, identify the skills or tools used in the work, and explain how the career contributes to nature or communities and how it addresses the issue or opportunity. Connect With the World of Work: Learn from a professional, organization, or reputable professional resource and complete an activity inspired by that work. Create & Share What You Learned: Guide youth in creating the Share What You Learned artifact: a slide presentation, written report, video, social post, infographic, or another format that fits your program. Submit Your Final Entry: Final entries must be submitted by an adult educator, program leader, or staff member from the participating program. Submissions must include the “Share What You Learned” artifact and required educator survey. The online form and instructions will be emailed to you once you sign up for the challenge. All submissions are due by 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, December 10. Review official challenge rules here. Judging Criteria All eligible submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges. Submissions will be scored using the following 100-point rubric. These descriptions note what the strongest submissions typically show, beyond meeting the baseline requirement. Question: Nature and Community Understanding – 25 points The submission identifies a clear, meaningful nature-related issue or opportunity and an age-appropriate explanation of why it matters. Strong submissions connect the issue to real conditions or evidence youth observed, not just a general topic. The strongest submissions show youth reasoning about why the issue matters to their specific community or place. Question: Career-Connected Learning – 30 points The submission demonstrates alignment with STEM Next’s Career-Connected Learning Framework by showing how youth practiced durable skills, engaged in career-connected STEM, and explored at least one nature-related career. The submission includes what the professional does, how that work connects to the issue, and what skills, tools, or knowledge the professional uses. Strong submissions name specific durable skills youth practiced, such as critical thinking, collaboration, or communication. The strongest submissions connect the career clearly back to the team’s own nature issue, not just a general job description. Question: World-of-Work Connection and Task – 25 points The submission demonstrates that youth learned from a reputable professional or professional resource and tried a feasible, hands-on part of the work. A reputable connection includes a government agency, university or college, professional association, recognized employer, museum, science center, or established nonprofit. The connection should not be simply general research on a company website. Strong submissions name two or three specific things youth learned from that connection. Strong submissions show that youth tried a hands-on part of the work, such as observing, counting, sorting, measuring, mapping, comparing, testing, or communicating findings, not just describing the career. An outreach attempt with no response still counts, as long as the presentation explains what youth asked. Question: Share What you Learned – 20 points The submission presents a clear, engaging Shared What You Learned artifact that addresses the required content, includes authentic documentation and youth voice, and highlights youth originality. Strong submissions organize the content so evidence for each required area is easy to find. The strongest submissions show genuine originality in how the team chose to tell their story, not just completeness. Frequently Asked Questions Have other questions? Please email info@stemnext.org. Question: What are the eligibility criteria to compete in the challenge? The Community in Nature Prize Challenge 2026 is open to structured out-of-school-time programs in the United States that serve youth in grades K–12. Eligible programs include afterschool programs, STEM clubs, robotics teams, makerspaces, summer programs, and other structured learning experiences offered or supervised by a school, library, museum, community organization, faith-based organization, or similar institution. Each entry must engage at least 10 youths. Each submission must include at least one career, complete one world-of-work connection and feasible work-inspired task, and create a Share What You Learned artifact that answers every required question. All entries must be submitted by an adult educator, program leader, or staff member on behalf of the participating program. Question: Can a multi-site organization submit multiple entries? Yes, if each entry is tied to a unique site. Question: Are there any restrictions on how the prize funds can be used? Yes, awards cannot be used for lobbying, advocacy, or policy work. Question: What if my program already teaches environmental topics? Great! Complete the four steps and submit your Share What You Learned artifact to be eligible for consideration. Question: Can we include youth from multiple age groups (e.g., elementary and high school)? Yes, projects may include youth across grade levels. Question: My program participated in last Year’s Nature Challenge. Are we eligible to participate in this year’s challenge? Yes, as long as your program meets the eligibility requirements. Question: My program was one of the Prize Challenge winners last year; can we participate in this year’s challenge? Yes, as long as your program meets the eligibility requirements. Question: Does the format of the Share What You Learned artifact matter? No. A document, slides, video, social post, or infographic are all acceptable. What matters is that the required content areas are addressed and youth voice comes through clearly. Professional-quality media or artifacts are not required. Question: For Step 3, connect to the world of work and complete a task. Do we need to have a live guest speaker? No. Youth may learn from a reputable recorded professional interview, career video, employee profile, or virtual workplace resource. Direct outreach or live interaction is welcome but not required. We have provided career videos and other helpful links in the Explore Nature and Career Resources section of the toolkit. Question: What if no one responds to our outreach? That is okay. An outreach attempt still counts. Explain what youth asked, and consider pairing it with a recorded interview or career resource so youth still have learning to draw on. Question: Does the Step 3 connection need to be the same career explored in Step 2? No. Teams may connect with any relevant professional, organization, or resource tied to their nature issue, even if it is a different career or role than the one explored in Step 2. Question: Can one activity satisfy the task and response requirements? Yes. For example, a short waste audit may be the work-inspired task, and the resulting chart, new signs, or recommendations may be the response. This Challenge is made possible with leadership support from the Volgenau Foundation, whose investment is helping bring the power of STEM and environmental learning to more youth nationwide. Together with our many partners, we’re building momentum for a future where every young person can make a difference in their community. Find out how to join us here.
