The Academic Decathlon of Ohio, Inc. is a statewide non-profit organization that encourages enthusiasm for learning by acknowledging academic excellence among Ohio high school students of different achievement levels. This is accomplished by providing local, regional and state multidisciplinary academic competitions based on the Academic Decathlon® curricula. All Ohio public and private high schools are eligible to compete. Teams of nine students compete in ten areas: art, economics, essay, interview, literature, mathematics, music, science, social science and speech which are based on a relevant and challenging theme each year. A unique aspect of the program is that teams are composed of students from all academic achievements. Winning teams advance through the local, regional, and state levels of competition. The culminating event at the regional and state competitions is the exhilarating award ceremony where gold, silver and bronze medals are presented to the top three students in each category in every event in each division. At the state competition, the highest scoring student in each category will receive the distinguished “Golden Eagle” award and a direct scholarship. The highest scoring team in each division earns a team division award and becomes eligible to compete in the online national competition. The overall highest scoring team is awarded the state champion team trophy. This team will then compete against other state champions at the United States Academic Decathlon® National Final Competition which is hosted by a different state each year.