Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has opened its application portal to the 2026 Generation Conservation Pre-Summit and Regional competitions, and interested schools have until Sept. 21 to register for the first round of competitions. 

This year’s Pre-Summit and Regional competitions feature challenges ranging from cooking wild game and quiz bowls, to debate and designing nature center exhibits, magazine spreads and action plans focused on improving their school’s conservation footprint. 

According to Larami Burge, Generation Conservation coordinator for the AGFC’s Education Division, the competition is open to public, private, charter and homeschool students in three divisions: Elementary (Kindergarten-fifth grade), Middle School/Junior High (sixth-eighth grade) and High School (ninth-12th grade). There are no entry or registration fees, but teachers must register as a school.

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“The competitions cover a variety of aspects of conservation, which helps build common bonds between students who have a variety of educational backgrounds and strengths,” Burge said. “We ask that all teachers at a specific school coordinate with each other to ensure only one entry per school per division.

Burge explained that the Generation Conservation Summit actually has three types of competitions: Pre-conference competitions, regional competitions and on-site competitions at the summit, which will be held at Bank OZK Arena and Convention Center in Hot Springs Nov. 4-5. 

“Some competitions, like social media campaign designs and conservation planning, require much more time to develop and to judge than a single day can accommodate, so those are placed in the pre-conference competition category and are completed in October,” Burge said. “Regional competitions also take place earlier than the statewide summit to accommodate schools who cannot make the trip to Hot Springs and to cut down on some of the space needed to compete. The summit will have casting tanks, a fishing pool, a climbing wall and many other large exhibits, so we need to split up some of the other events for all schools who want to participate to have space.” 

The third type of event for the second annual Generation Conservation Summit is an on-site event at the summit itself. These events will be filled with teams who qualify during regional competitions. Archery, air riflery, cooking, debate, game calling and a quiz bowl competition will all be featured at the final event in November. 

“If your school is interested in competing, it’s best to register early for the events you know your students want to compete in,” Burge said. “You can go back into registration and modify your list if you add more events.” 

A full list of events and details of each competition is available here.

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