Center for Creative Solutions Calls for Student Innovators
Student innovators and entrepreneurs, the Center for Creative Solutions wants you! For the seventh year, area students will be honored for their innovative products and projects during World Creativity & Innovation Week, April 15-21, 2024.
The honors will go to K-12 students working alone or in teams. Their project, product or process must demonstrate a reasonable level of creativity and/or innovation, noted Pat Lain, the Center’s Board President. It may be in any area of interest, such as technology, the arts, trades/professions, writing, science, business, cooking, designing, to name a few.
“The creative endeavor need not be perfected. We are interested in recognizing creative students and their processes and products. While creativity is something new and useful, innovation is the implementation or extension of a new and useful idea. We’re interested in both student creativity and innovation,” Lain explained.

The one-page application may be submitted by a student, teacher, or anyone from Northwest Indiana. The application covers three areas of inquiry:

1. What was the inspiration for the project/product? Why did the student begin it?
2. What was the creative process? How did the nominee begin the process? What steps did the student take? Did anything surprise the student? Were there any problems that had to be overcome? How did the nominee deal with those challenges?
3. What is the end result?
The application deadline is March 18, 2024. Winners will be announced during Northwest Indiana’s celebration of World Creativity & Innovation Week. Winners will receive public recognition and a monetary award, funded through the Morgan Family Foundation.
Nomination forms may be found and submitted on the website, CenterforCreativeSolutions.com. Nominations may also be mailed to the Center at 2912 North Regal Drive, La Porte, Indiana 46350, or emailed to creativity52@comcast.net.
Co-sponsors for this year’s World Creativity and Innovation Week are the Bethany Church Foundation of La Porte, WIMS Radio, Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest, and Lakeshore Public Radio’s program, Art on the Air.
For more information, contact Cynthia Hedge, CEO of the Center for Creative Solutions at 219-326-7259 or creativity52@comcast.net. The Center is a local non-profit organization devoted to encouraging a community culture of creativity and innovation through creativity events and workshops.
Currently, 140 countries observe World Creativity & Innovation Week. The United Nations has designated April 21 as World Creativity & Innovation Day. For a look at the week’s international activities, check out https://wciw.org