I placed second at the international level for a scenario, or short story, writing competition for the future problem solvers program, which doesn’t seem to be a particularly well known program (only three or four schools participate in my state, but I do know that other states have more participation). I was competing against students from most states as well as from countries all around the world, including England, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Portugal. Despite having students from around the world compete in the international competition, I don’t ever hear about FPS, nor have I seen it listed as an EC on this website before, so to me it looks like it’s not a very prominent program. Would this still be a good thing to have on my resume for top colleges, or will the fact that the program doesn’t have as much name recognition as others negate the fact that the award was given at the highest level within the program? If it helps, I’ve participated in this competition as well as other competitions from the future problem solvers program every year since 7th grade and have placed at the state level every year, though due to schedule conflicts I’ve only been able to attend the international competition once. Thanks so much for your help!
You emphasize it as your first honor in the honor and awards section and try to explain what it is as briefly as possible. It’s international, but that doesn’t mean admissions officials in the US haven’t heard of it. They probably have. You may want to consider adding the short story as a supplement to your app.
FPS is not unknown here in the US. I don’t know about other areas of the country but it’s common where I am. You’re fine to include it