Minnesota Student Digital Mapping Competition

2025 Competition

What's New for 2025

• Minnesota state-only competition - This state-only competition continues with the support of our Minnesota sponsors. Esri has paused support of a national competition.

• Individual Teacher Registration - Each participating teacher registers individually. If multiple teachers in a school participate, each teacher registers individually and submits up to three entries to the state competition.

• Expanded Topic Choices - Students are no longer limited to topics within the state of Minnesota. Students are encouraged to select topics that align with current course curriculum in social studies and science.

• Modified Middle School Division - The middle school division is limited to grades 6 - 8. Grades 4 and 5 are no longer eligible for middle school competition.

• Competition Options - There are two competition options. A new Human Geography Challenge option has been added for high school students. 
  • Individual/Team Research Digital Map Project - Middle and high school students create a digital map with at least two layers for their research topic. The research findings and map(s) are presented in a story map entry. Each participating teacher submits up to three entries to the state competition.
  • Human Geography Challenge - New this year is a high school only competition option. This competition is designed as a class project that can be completed after the AP Human Geography exam. The competition is also open to other high school courses like Ethnic Studies. The class creates a digital map layer on a human geography topic of their choice. The mapped layer and findings are presented in a story map entry.

• State Competition Awards - The competition awards are as follows:
  • Individual/Team Research Digital Map Project Awards - The student awards are the same for the middle and high school top three state winning entries. If completed by a team, each student receives half of the award.
    • 1st Place = $200
    • 2nd Place = $150
    • 3rd Place = $100
  • Human Geography Challenge Award - The winning teacher receives a grant to fund attending the Esri Education User Conference.

Required Software - All competition entries must be created using an Esri ArcGIS Online School Bundle Account. If your school or club does not have an account, go to this link for complete information on how to apply for a free account. Before applying, please include a district level administrator and tech specialist in the process. The tech specialist should refer to this website for information on how to set up student logins. If you have any issues, email this address for help: schools@esri.com 

Click on map image to open interactive map. You can search to find out if your school or district has an account.

If you have questions regarding the competition, please click on the contact information to send your question to the competition coordinators.

Competition Sponsors