Senior Centers Invited to Enter The Community Connection Video Game Tournament

The Wii is not just for kids! In celebration of Older Americans Month, the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) wants to get seniors moving with the Community Connection Video Game Tournament. Using the interactive Nintendo Wii video game console, AoA is inviting senior centers across the country to hold bowling tournaments.

At the end of two rounds of play, the senior centers with the highest average score will be publicly recognized by the AoA. In addition, the Older Americans Month Web site will announce the highest scoring player from each team after every round of play. 

The Community Connection Video Game Tournament is an initiative of the AoA in partnership with the National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), a program of the National Council on Aging.

Join in the fun and register your senior center to participate in the tournament. 

For more information visit OlderAmericansMonth.org    

Enter the Connecting Generations Video Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Administration on Aging

The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) is pleased to announce the Connecting Generations Video Challenge in celebration of Older Americans Month 2011.  The Challenge will bring together multiple generations to create videos featuring the roles our seniors play in connecting us all.  Anyone can participate by joining an intergenerational team—including at least one person age 60 or older and one person younger than 60—to produce a video. 

In the videos, teams will share their perspectives on how older Americans maintain and strengthen connections in our communities.  From videos about seniors using technology to connect with others to older adults assisting in schools, any video that demonstrates what seniors are doing to maintain and strengthen community connections is a candidate for this contest.

AoA will post contest entries online, where participants can view and comment on all the videos.  A panel of judges will select the top 10 entries, and the general public will then vote for the winner from the finalists.  Entries must be submitted by May 2, 2011.

To find out more or to enter the Connecting Generations Video Challenge, please visithttp://www.olderamericansmonth.org/    

Calling All Beautiful Minds

The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) is an organization dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and the quality of life of older people. NCCA has partnered with Martek Biosciences, a company committed to brain health research, to help shine a light on people who are keeping their minds beautiful, and raise awareness of the actions people can take to maintain the most important organ in the body—the brain.

NCCA and Martek are seeking people 55 and over to be featured in a national photo essay exhibit showcasing women and men who are doing beautiful things with their minds without letting age be a barrier. The photo essay exhibit will travel to multiple cities as part of this educational campaign to inspire all Americans to follow suit in maintaining their brain health.

Beautiful Minds candidates who are selected will receive $500 to be given to the nonprofit charity of their choice and a prize package valued at $500.

Nominate by May 13, 2011.

Beautiful Minds Essay Criteria

If you are 55 or over, and have looked at aging as an opportunity to do something extraordinarily beautiful with your mind, you are a good candidate.

Do you or does someone you know:
·	Commit to a healthy lifestyle?
·	Maintain a healthy diet?
·	Engage in intellectual or brain-healthy activities on a daily basis?
·	Take measures to overcome a serious illness through mind, body, spirit and nutritional methods?
·	Receive accolades for work as an educator?
·	Participate in high-impact physical activities, such as running marathons?
·	Have a strong commitment to social well-being and volunteer to help others?

Click here for rules and regulations

Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest | Aging Initiative | US EPA

Image via Wikipedia
The EPA, Generations United, the Dance Exchange, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., announce a poetry, essay, photo and dance contest. Entries must be from a team of two or more persons, a young person and an older person. The creative work should express the "Sense of Wonder" that your team feels for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes. We want you to share this love of nature with a child and others around you. When we teach our eyes and ears and senses to focus on the wonders of nature, we open ourselves to the wonders around us.

Contestants will work across generations to share through one of these distinct mediums their own interactions with and reflections on the wonders of nature.

Dance video entries are not limited to the moving body. You can use live performers and/ or capture movement and change visible in nature: birds landing, trees shaking in a storm, a river flowing...
Experienced and first time dancers and video makers are encouraged to participate.
Contest Flyer
Contest Entry Form
Criteria for Judging

Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest | Aging Initiative | US EPA