North South Foundation (NSF), a U.S. non-profit Organization, is sponsoring its Annual Regional Contests in Spelling, Vocabulary, Math, Geography and Essay Writing. A new contest, Public Speaking is introduced this year. These contests are open to children of Indian American origin. Based on the contest category, the contests are grouped into Junior, Intermediate or Senior levels for children from first through twelfth grade. The contests will be held at various locations throughout the country. Participants with high scores, based on a cut-off, will be invited to the National Finals to be held in August-September. The date and venue for the National Finals will be announced later. The top three winners at the national level, for each contest, will be eligible for Scholarships ranging from $250 to $1,000, redeemable during their freshman year of College.

Parents can register their children online at www.northsouth.org. The Kid’s Corner at the NSF website provides educational and interesting games for children to help with their preparation for the contests. The website also provides practice words and more information about the contests and the centers.

For the last thirteen years, the Foundation has awarded scholarships of more than $100,000. The Foundation originally designed the contests to improve a child’s spelling & vocabulary and systematically prepare him/her for the SAT exam. Now it has widened vastly adding contests in Math, Geography, Essay Writing and Public Speaking. All these contests focus on improving our children’s skills to achieve higher goals. The Foundation’s goal is to encourage excellence in education among the children of Indian-American community in the US and Canada by conducting educational contests.

These contests are held in nearly 65 centers across the country. The Foundation is proud to say that the winners of its contests have achieved top ranks in the Scripps National Spelling Bees over the years. Top colleges in the nation have accepted numerous NSF winners. More importantly, these contests help children improve their communication skills, self-confidence and empower them to become better citizens for tomorrow.

NSF also encourages excellence in education among the poor in India by providing college scholarships. The Foundation strongly believes in the importance of providing the right environment for a child to fully realize the latent potential. Over the years, more than 2,500 scholarships were awarded to college going children among the poor in India.

Press Contact: Dr Ratnam Chitturi at (630) 323-1966.