Gen and Kelly Tanabe is a merit-based scholarship program to help students fund college. The scholarship is open to 9th-12th grade high school, college, or graduate students including adult students. Winners are chosen based on submitted personal statements.
Deadline: January 1 – July 31
Prizes: The first-place award is a $1,000 scholarship.
Personal Statement: In 250 words or less, please submit an essay on one of the following:
1. Why do you deserve to win this scholarship? -OR-
2. Describe your academic or career goals. -OR-
3. Any topic of your choice. Feel free to re-use an essay that you wrote in class, for college admission or another scholarship competition.
JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) conducts an annual student Essay Contest to foster the study and appreciation of Jane Austen’s works in new generations of readers.
The theme for 2023’s essay contest is inspired by the theme of our upcoming Annual General Meeting: Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen’s other novels, we see proposals and marriages that are motivated by love and better described as arranged marriages or marriages of convenience. Many cultures today also expect arranged marriages (not the same as forced). In your essay, compare and discuss the different types of marriages or courtships found in the novels, whether those relationships are new or longstanding.
Deadline: June 1, 2025 (based on last year’s deadline)
Prizes: The first place award is $1,000, the second place receives $500, and the third prize receives a $250 scholarship.
The Ocean Awareness Writing Contest provides a platform for young people to understand environmental issues through artistic creation and creative thoughts, explore their relationship with the changing world, and become advocates of positive change. The theme of the 2023 Ocean Awareness Competition is “Climate Heroes in Action”
Deadline: June 9, 2025
Prizes:
Junior Division | Senior Division | |
Gold Award | $1,000 | $1,500 |
Silver | $750 | $1,000 |
Bronze | $250 | $500 |
Pearl | $150 | $300 |
Honorable Mention | $100 | $250 |
Rover.com connects pet parents with trustworthy pet sitters and dog walkers. Currently, Rover is offering Rover Scholarship to the graduating high school senior who submits the best answer to an essay prompt in 400 to 500 words. The topic for this year is: “How did growing up with a pet in your life (could be a friend’s or family member’s) impact the person you are today?”
Deadline: May 1st, 2025
Prizes: One winner receives a check of $2,500
American College Foundation provides students with a visionary scholarship, which is worth up to $5,000. Students will submit their recent unofficial transcript, scholarship application, and a 500-word essay submission for the prompt “Why College is Important to Me”
Deadline: Dec 1, 2024
Prizes: Students will win up to $5,000
The Fraser Institute Student Essay Contest is an annual competition for Canadian and international high school students. The contest is organized by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank that promotes free-market economics and individual freedom.
To enter the contest, students must submit an original essay of 800-1,000 words answering the question “What would our Essential Scholars say about the world today?” A panel of judges evaluates the essays and selects winners in each grade category (9-11 and 12-12). The winning essays are published on the Fraser Institute’s website and the authors receive cash prizes.
Deadline: June 1, 2025 (based on last year’s deadline)
Prizes:
1st Place – $1,500
2nd Place – $1,000
3rd Place – $750
4th Place – $500
5th Place – $250
John Locke Institute Essay Competition is hosted by John Locke Institute, an independent educational organization located in Oxford, UK. Professors at the John Locke Institute are from famous universities like Oxford, Princeton, Brown, and Buckingham University. There are seven subject categories (excluding Junior Category): Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law. For each subject category, three questions are given from which one is chosen to write about, not exceeding 2000 words.
Deadline: June 30, 2024
Prizes:
- Each winner of a subject category and the winner of the junior category receives a scholarship worth $2,000 towards the cost of attending the John Locke Institute program.
- The best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and gap year courses.
YoungArts identifies the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary, and performing arts, and provides them with creative and professional development opportunities throughout their careers. Esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists judge all applications through a rigorous blind adjudication process, and award winners are offered a lifetime of artistic support and ongoing connection with an extraordinarily robust network of peers and mentors. The Scholastic Awards offers 10 categories of visual, literary, and performing arts: Classical Music, Dance, Design Arts, Film, Jazz, Photography, Theater, Visual Arts, Voice, and Writing.
Deadline: Mid-October 2024
Prizes:
Finalist Gold: $10,000, Silver: $5,000, Level 1: $3,000, Level 2: $1,500, Level 3: $1,000
Finalists attending National YoungArts Week are also considered for U.S. Presidential Scholars Program nomination.
Honorable Mention winners receive $250
Merit winners receive $100
The Ayn Rand Institute Essay Contests are created by the Ayn Rand organization, in memory of this great novelist. There are three contests within the competition: Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, named after three of the novels she has published.
Deadline: May 31, 2024 for Anthem, September 13, 2024 and The Fountainhead, and September 20, 2024 for Atlas Shrugged.
Prizes:
Anthem | The Fountainhead | Atlas Shrugged | |
1st Place | $2,000 (1) | $5,000 (1) | $10,000 (1) |
2nd | $250 (3) | $1,250 (3) | $2,500 (3) |
3rd | $100 (5) | $250 (5) | $500 (5) |
Finalist | $50 (25) | $100 (25) | $100 (25) |
Semi-finalist | $25 (50) | $25 (50) | $50 (50) |
Voice of Democracy is an audio-essay program, where high school students can express themselves through a recorded essay. The 2022-2023 theme is: “Why is the Veteran Important?”
Deadline: Oct. 31, 2024
Prizes:
The first-place winner will receive a $35,000 scholarship paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college, or vocational/technical school.
Other scholarships range from $1,000 – $21,000
The first-place winner from each VFW Department (state) wins a minimum scholarship of $1,000
The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund sponsors a scholarly writing contest for grades K-12. The theme for the essay is “What Does the Second Amendment Mean to You?”. Students will write a 1,000-word essay for submission. The contest is open to all students in elementary, junior high, and high school.
Deadline: December 31, 2023
Prizes:
First place: $1,000
2nd place: $600
3rd place: $200
4th place: $100
Fleet Reserve Association provides students from grades 7 to 12 with the annual essay contest to promote Americanism and patriotism. Students will write a 350-word essay, local winners will advance to regional and national to compete for national prizes.
Deadline: December 1, 2024
Prizes:
National Winner: $1,500
The top 3 essays in each grade category will receive $1,000 for first place, $750 for second place, and $500 for third place.
