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by Emily

This week's Scholarship of the Week is an essay scholarship that should appeal to fans of political science and U.S. history, though it's open to students of every major.  The Lincoln Forum's Platt Family Scholarship Prize Essay Contest offers a top prize of $1,000 for student essays on one of America's most influential presidents.

The 2008 elections brought a renewed interest in Abraham Lincoln, with frequent comparisons made between him and President Obama.  Building on this theme, The Lincoln Forum is inviting current undergraduate students to submit essays on the topic, "Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln: Getting Right with Lincoln." The scholarship essay contest asks students to discuss which other presidents, in addition to Obama, have been inspired by Lincoln, and to also explore what lessons can be learned from Lincoln's presidency by the Obama administration.

Prize: 

 
• First prize: $1,000
 
• Second prize: $500
 
• Third prize: $250
 

Undergraduate students who were enrolled full-time in the spring semester of 2009 at an American college or university.  U.S. citizenship is not required. 

by Emily

As we mentioned yesterday, the 2008-2009 school year is winding down, and people are preparing to flip over to a new academic calendar and a new college application cycle.  However, that doesn't mean that students still seeking admission or financial aid for 2009-2010 are completely out of luck.  There are still colleges and scholarships accepting applications right now.  In fact, there are some substantial scholarship awards that you can still win this summer, and to prove it, we're listing a few of them below.  To learn more about these awards and others with upcoming deadlines, you can do a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com.

HANDS Essay Contest

Hands Along the Nile is accepting applications until July 4 for its $5,000 scholarship essay contest. To apply, students are asked to compose an essay of no more than 2,500 words in response to the question, "How is community development in the Middle East important to the U.S.? Why is it particularly crucial to focus on Egypt?" This scholarship is open to high school seniors and full-time undergraduate and graduate students at colleges in the United States.

Blade Your Ride Scholarship Program

Through June 30, current undergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about the environment are invited to create a video webcast for a chance to win up to $9,000 towards their college education.  Videos should focus on the global climate crisis and creativity is encouraged.  Applicants must maintain a 3.0 GPA and must be attending college in the United States, but citizenship is not required.

SPENDonLIFE Credit Challenged Scholarship

High school and college students who have been declined for student loans due to the credit crunch have until June 15 to apply for a scholarship of up to $5,000 to help cover their college costs.  To apply, students are asked to write a 500-word essay describing the impact of the economic downturn on their lives. This contest is open to U.S. residents between the ages of 17 and 25.

The Calm-a-Sutra of Tea $15,000 Scholarship Competition

The Tea Council of the USA is looking for videos about the health benefits of tea, and you have until August 2 to create one.  Applicants ages 16 and older who are legal residents of the United States or Puerto Rico are invited to upload a video about tea to YouTube, then share the link with the Tea Council.  One winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship.

Scholarships.com College Scholarships

Scholarships.com is also accepting applications for three of our scholarship awards.  For a chance to win $1,000, you can apply for the Resolve to Evolve Essay contest, the College Culinary Arts Scholarship, or the College Design Scholarship.  Other Scholarships.com college scholarships are available throughout the year, as well.

by Agnes Jasinski

If you're someone who "thinks outside of the box" and has led some kind of a project to prove it, you could be a good fit for awards that recognize students' innovations and drive to better their communities.

This week's Scholarship of the Week is the Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The award won't be given based on your academic achievements or financial need as part of the application process (although financial need will play a part in determining how much funding you receive if you do win), but you will be asked to describe your creative problem solving skills in an essay. Previous winners, for example, have done some of the following: pioneered new designs for pulse jet engines, created a summer soccer program for pre-schoolers as an innovative way of supporting a local food bank, and created, produced, and directed a distinctive stage production about Black history and culture.

Prize: Three to five applicants will receive a maximum of $20,000 ($5,000 per year for up to four years).

Eligibility: Applicants must be exceptionally innovative and creative high school juniors and seniors or college freshmen from Connecticut or the New York City metropolitan area, or planning to attend a school in Connecticut or the New York City metropolitan area.

Deadline: April 12, 2010

Required Material: Interested applicants must complete the scholarship application available online, and mail it along with two letters of recommendation, a transcript of grades, financial information, and a letter of acceptance from their college (if applicable), to the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The main part of the application form will ask applicants to write an essay on how they solved a scientific, artistic or technical problem in a new and unusual way, and whether they have come up with a distinctive and original solution to a problem faced by their school, community or family.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Agnes Jasinski

We’re not only here to match you with outside awards through our free scholarship search. We’re also here to offer you 14 ways of our own to help meet your college costs. In addition to our 13 Area of Study Scholarships, where we award one scholarship per month based on the field of study you mark off in your user profiles, we also award five annual $1,000 scholarships based on how you respond to essay prompts that we provide. This week’s Scholarship of the Week is our Resolve to Evolve Scholarship, and the deadline is fast approaching.

The annual Resolve to Evolve Scholarship is an essay contest that allows applicants to come up with workable solutions and criticisms to questions and issues we put before them. This year, applicants are asked to discuss how we as a country could better meet President Obama’s goals of getting the United States to become the most educated country in the world by 2020, and how technology and the Internet have changed the way institutions of higher education operate.

If you’re picked as a winner, you won’t only have an additional $1,000 to cover your college costs, we’ll forward your essay to officials who may be able to act on your suggestions. Pretty cool, right? Check out our Official Rules for more information on applying if you’re interested, and make sure to follow the directions closely. You won’t be considered otherwise!

Prize: A total of five scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each will be awarded.

Eligibility: Applicants must be 19 or older. You must be a currently enrolled full-time undergraduate or a full- or part-time graduate or non-traditional/returning student who will be enrolled at a U.S. Department of Education accredited college, university or vocational school at the time the prize is awarded. (Prizes will be awarded in November 2010.) Graduate and non-traditional/returning students may be enrolled part-time.

Deadline: July 31, 2010

Required Material: All applicants must choose one of two essays to respond to in 300 to 800 words, in addition to a short answer response on why attending college is important to you, your academic and career goals, and what your biggest obstacle has been in your desire to attend college. Applicants must also submit a letter of reference and a proof of enrollment, such as an official/unofficial transcript, printout of courses, or a letter of enrollment or admittance from your college or university.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

Unless you're lucky enough to happen across an extremely obscure and unusual scholarship with only one or two qualified applicants, you are going to have to face some competition to receive a scholarship award. In the case of essay scholarships that are easy to enter or that come with a substantial award, you may be facing quite a lot of competition. In fact, with many scholarship competitions, you may be up against so much competition that there's no guarantee a reviewer will even have time to completely read and digest each scholarship essay submitted. This makes your essay's introduction vitally important.

The first sentence of your scholarship application is your first, best and possibly only chance to capture your reader's attention. To have the best chance at winning scholarships, you need to know how to start your essay off right. The following are some tips to help you craft an eye-catching introduction that gets your foot in the door and gets your application the attention it deserves.

Put it in your own words. While starting with a quote is a common technique in speaking and some writing, it may not work best in a scholarship application essay. Leading with a quote shows the reviewer that you know how to read, but it doesn't tell much else about you or your ideas. Use your own words to begin, and if a quote supports or enhances your argument, consider bringing it in later in the essay.

Avoid clichés and tired phrases. One of your essay's goals should be to distinguish you from the competition, and it won't do this if it rehashes the same overused expressions that everyone else employs. Keep in mind that the scholarship reviewer will be reading hundreds or even thousands of applications. What seems clever or cute the first time doesn't seem that way after the 50th or 100th iteration. A good rule to follow is that if a phrase belongs on a bumper sticker or in an e-mail from your mom, it likely does not belong in your scholarship essay.

Establish a personal connection. If your experience gives you a unique perspective on the essay's topic, show your reader this. Most people are suckers for personal anecdotes, provided the stories are interesting and well-told. Make sure the story you tell fits these criteria and actually enriches your essay and contributes to your overall message. Don't get melodramatic and don't bog down your introduction in an overly long, detailed or irrelevant narrative, but if you've got a good story to tell to frame your essay, use it.

Say something new. Are you arguing something that falls well outside the typical series of canned responses? Consider leading with your thesis, or at least some of the information or realizations that guided your essay towards its thesis. There's no better way to stand out from a pile of fairly standard responses than to have something fresh and thought-provoking to contribute with your scholarship application.

With a solid introduction and a thoughtful and well-written response, you'll be well on your way to writing a scholarship-worthy essay.

This week's Scholarship of the Week is a scholarship essay contest that offers a $10,000 reward to students who are actively engaged in fighting poverty. The In The River They Swim essay competition asks participants to reflect upon an experience living or working in a poor country or a poor region of a developed nation and tell a story about a personal journey they've had doing enterprise solutions to poverty.

What makes this competition unique is that it asks for students to go beyond the traditional response elicited by community service scholarships and other essay scholarships and to reflect on both successes and failures, as well as people encountered and lessons learned along the way. Rather than simply recounting experiences in a matter-of-fact way, a winning essay will tell a story in an engaging and illuminating manner. Most importantly, the essay should teach the reader something, and presents an opportunity to think both critically and creatively about your work, your attitudes, and your assumptions for a chance at a substantial cash prize and possible publication.

Prize: $10,000

Eligibility: Anyone is eligible to participate, regardless of age, level of education, or area of study.

Deadline: September 1, 2009

Required Material: An essay of no more than 2000 words written in response to the contest prompt and submitted online. All essays must be accompanied by a 100-word abstract.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for thisscholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Alexis Mattera

Like many students, I read "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" when I was in school. I was both saddened and moved upon completion: Her writing revealed an intelligent, charming person destined for great things – potential that was never realized because of Adolf Hitler’s corrupt agenda. Anne would be turning 82 this June 12th and to celebrate her short yet meaningful life, the Anne Frank Center USA is offering their annual Anne Frank Outstanding Scholarship Award, which grants $10,000 to one deserving student.

Scholarship applicants must be graduating high school seniors who are community leaders and have been accepted to a four-year college. Applicants are required to write a 1,000-word essay describing contributions they have made to their community and how their goals are inspired by Anne Frank. The essay should relate a single personal experience that demonstrates a commitment to social justice. The scholarship committee strongly recommends that applicants read “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” and include in their essay how themes from the diary relate to their own life experience. Applicants are also required to provide two letters of recommendation on letterhead from supporting sponsors who are personally familiar with the applicant's contributions but are not parents or family members. All application materials must be postmarked by January 31st; the winner will be announced on March 28th.

To learn more about this scholarship, visit the Anne Frank Center USA's website; additional scholarship opportunities can be found by conducting a free Scholarships.com scholarship search.

by Alexis Mattera

There’s nothing I enjoy more than curling up with a good book...unless doing so could be worth $10,000. Too bad I’m long graduated because I’d be applying for this Scholarship of the Week in a second!

The Fountainhead Essay Contest, offered by the Ayn Rand Institute, is open to high school juniors and seniors with a love of literature and flair for writing. Each applicant is required to read Rand’s novel of the same name then craft an essay of 800 to 1,600 words in response to one of three prompts. There will be 236 college scholarships distributed – one $10,000 first-prize award, five $2,000 second-prize awards, 10 $1,000 third-prize awards, 45 $100 finalist awards and 175 $50 semifinalist awards – to essay writers demonstrating an outstanding grasp of the philosophic meaning of The Fountainhead.

All materials must be submitted by April 26th (just over two weeks from today) so if you are interested in this scholarship opportunity, you still have plenty of time to apply. For more information on this and other scholarship awards, conduct a free scholarship search on our site today!

Often, scholarship opportunities also serve as opportunities for students to think about and respond to pressing issues of the day, and one of the problems weighing most heavily on society in the last year has been the global economic crisis.  While the recession has begun showing signs of abating, it is still creating serious problems in several areas of life, ranging from paying for school to owning a home.

Homeowners have been facing threats of foreclosure due to a combination of factors related to the recession, and this problem could still get worse before it gets better. The real estate website Foreclosure.com is sponsoring a scholarship essay contest that invites college students to propose solutions to the ongoing spike in foreclosures. With a $5,000 top prize for the scholarship essay that best explains "how to solve the foreclosure crisis," the Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program is this week's Scholarship of the Week.

Prize: Top prize is $5,000 and four runners-up will receive $1,000

Eligibility: Students who are currently enrolled in or have been accepted to an accredited college, university, law school or trade school in the United States.  U.S. citizenship is required.

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Required Material: A completed online scholarship application, along with an essay of 1,000 to 2,500 words addressing the essay topic. Scholarship applications will be judged on writing ability, creativity, originality, and overall excellence.

Further details about the application process can be found by conducting a free college scholarship search on Scholarships.com. Once the search is completed, students eligible for this scholarship award will find it in their search results.

by Emily

International relations and national security remain hot topics in American politics, so it's no surprise that scholarship opportunities exist to foster new thinking and innovative ideas in such fields.  Students interested in issues of national security, counterintelligence, and international affairs are invited to apply for this week's Scholarship of the Week, the Jim and Anna Hyonjoo Lint National Security Scholarship.  This scholarship essay contest awards $1,000 to the student who writes the best original essay addressing an issue of importance to national security and related fields.  In addition to the scholarship prize, winners will also see their essays published by the Lint Center.

Prize:

$1,000

Eligibility:

Applicants must be admitted to a university and must plan to enroll as undergraduate students or graduate students in the fall semester.  The scholarship is open to students of any major who show an interest in national security, counterintelligence, or international affairs.