ECs: Where do I start? Where do I look? Help! (ECs: awards, internships, etc)

<p>Hello everyone. The consensus here seems to be that ranking high in national competitions is a very good thing to have on your EC list. People here talk about national essay contests, publishing writing in magazines, winning teen journalism awards. There is also much talk of internships with congressmen and with corporations, and of doing research in a scientific lab.
All of these things sound interesting and I would definitely like to try my hand at them.
The problem:
I don't know where to start!
Where do I find competitions? (I am a strong writer, so writing competitions would be preferable.) Where do I find opportunities for internships and research? I am feeling so overwhelmed at the moment because I'm absolutely clueless.
I'm currently a ninth grader so I know it isn't overwhelmingly urgent, but I would like to get started on building up my EC list.
Any advice at all would be much appreciated!
:)</p>

<p>Anyone? :o</p>

<p>I don't know any websites, but try going over to your local newspaper and volunteer to write/help around.</p>

<p>look around in your school first, because info on essay contests and stuff is usually sent to the school. i got a medical research internship for this summer,and all i had to do was fill out a form and get a few recs. go online to see if there are any nearby research facilities, the larger the better.</p>

<p>I've been careful about looking for competitons at school this year, but the school is pretty large and it's entirely possible that I could have missed things. Do most people find their competitions through school?</p>

<p>Google things, or check out fastweb.com for contests?</p>

<p>Talk to your guidance counselor, oftentimes they’ll know about various contests. There are almost always writing contests going on, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them and get involved.</p>