Hi Nutmeg- just wanted to say that there are old threads here that discuss both of your questions; I think the one about awards ceremonies is rather old, perhaps 1-2 years.
I can share our brief experience, which probably won't be of much help. Our two kids got similar scores to yours but were slightly younger at the time. We opted not to do the summer camps for various reasons. Regarding the awards ceremony, I think it really depends. They are regional, and from what I remember reading here, seemed to vary in how well they were done. We ended up attending, but in the end did not find it to be worth the effort (travel of about two hours during snowy winter, long ceremony with speaker not tuned in to a young audience and difficult to understand, there seemed to be a lot of self-promotion by the university hosting, which was not particularly close to us and therefore not of much interest at that point, etc).
I think there are a few reasons some find it valuable- the public acknowledgement of achievement can be important to kids, and the ceremony includes a program with the names and schools of all the invitees, which can potentially facilitate relationships with other bright kids. I imagine if you or your kids are interested in the university that is hosting that might be a reason to attend, especially if they offer programs for gifted youth.
Hope that helps.
