Where Brilliance Meets Boldness
ACT-SO
Lafayette
The NAACP’s Olympics of the mind and the arts, now competing in Acadiana. Founded in 1978, and now a stage of our own.
The Program
Train all year.
Compete on your own stage.
The Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics is the NAACP’s yearlong achievement program for high school students — founded in 1978 on a simple conviction: that young people who excel in a laboratory or on a page deserve the same recognition we give athletes.
Students don’t just show up and perform. They spend the school year working with mentors, coaches, and working artists, building a piece or a project to competition standard. In the spring, they take the stage in Lafayette. Local gold medalists advance to the national ACT-SO competition, where national gold medalists earn scholarships.
Open to high school students in grades 9–12 who are U.S. citizens and amateurs in their category. There is a place here for you.
Compete In
Twenty categories.
Judged by professionals.
Stage
Dramatics · Oratory · Spoken Word · Vocal Music · Instrumental Music · Dance
Page
Written Poetry · Short Story · Playwriting · Music Composition
Studio
Filmmaking · Photography · Drawing · Painting · Sculpture
Vocal and instrumental music each compete in classical and contemporary; dance in ballet, contemporary, modern, and cultural — twenty categories in all. ACT-SO runs 33 nationally; STEM, business, and culinary open here as student interest and mentors surface — tell us what you want to compete in.
The Path
From sign-up to the national stage.
01
Fall 2026
Register & pair with a mentor
Students sign up and are matched with a mentor or coach in their category. Families get a full orientation before any of the work begins.
02
Winter
Train through the school year
Workshops and coaching sessions run from late fall into spring: real craft, real feedback, and a piece or project built to compete.
03
Spring 2027
The Lafayette competition
Judged by degreed and working professionals in each category, on ACT-SO’s 100-point national standard. Gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded.
04
Summer 2027
Nationals
Local gold medalists represent Lafayette at the national ACT-SO competition. National gold medalists earn scholarships.
Student Sign-Up
Put your name in early.
Signing up here tells us your student is interested and puts your family first in line for orientation. It is not the NAACP’s official registration — that opens on the national portal this fall — but this form asks for the same things the national application does, so nothing has to be answered twice. It goes straight to the program team and nowhere else.
Mentors, Judges & Sponsors
This runs on people who know how to do.
Every category needs a panel of three judges — degreed or working professionals in the field. Every student needs a coach. And every line of this program, from workshops to medals to sending our gold medalists to nationals, can carry a name.