Press Release:
Roane State will host its annual Academic Festival at the college’s flagship Roane County Campus on March 27, 2026. More than 60 events will be featured this year and students still have time to enter.
The Academic Festival showcases the knowledge, skills, and talents of local high school students across dozens of disciplines. The first festival was held in 1978 to promote arts and sciences.
Competitive divisions include art, business, creative writing, dance, health science, history, journalism, languages, math and physics, music, philosophy, science, speech, and theatre.
The festival consists of a mix of in-person and early submission categories. Early submissions must be submitted by March 11 and will be judged and scored prior to the festival.
Winning entries in the Art Division will be notified early so students have time to deliver their works for display in the campus art gallery. These winning entries must be hand-delivered (not mailed) by March 19. Students will receive drop-off instructions.
For schools submitting a physical copy of their yearbook in the journalism division, entries must be postmarked or hand-delivered to the Roane County Campus no later than March 19.
All individual and group forms will be due March 20. The festival’s online registration portal will close at 5 p.m. ET that day.
Academic Festival participants will arrive and check in on campus from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on Friday, March 27. The event begins at 9 a.m. with the Raider Core Scavenger Hunt and other non-competition activities. Competitions will begin at 9:15 a.m. ET in specified locations across campus.
For the non-competition events, festival organizers have several fun activities planned including teach-a-palooza, cornhole, improv theatre, music jam, a science fair, and interactive labs focused on archaeology, criminal justice, geology, mechatronics, and health science fields.
The Raider Café in the Vann Student Center will be open for lunch. Additional food and refreshments will be available for purchase from food trucks in the parking lot.
For the competitive portion of the festival, first, second, and third place winners will be announced for each event. First, second, and third place sweepstakes trophies will also be awarded to the schools accumulating the most overall points.
First-place winners earn five points for their school, second-place winners earn three points for their school, and third-place winners earn one point for their school. Each first-place winner will receive a festival medallion on the day of the event. All second- and third-place winners will receive certificates by mail following the festival.
The awards ceremony is scheduled to begin at approximately 12:15 p.m. ET inside the gym. The festival will conclude following this ceremony.
For more information on the 2026 Academic Festival or to register for an event, visit roanestate.edu/af. Once finalized, details for the 2027 festival will also be posted online.