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Fifty-million people are at risk of hunger, including 17 million children. The Sodexo Foundation works to ensure that every child in the U.S., especially those most at risk, grows up with dependable access to enough nutritious food to enable them to lead a healthy, productive life. The Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarships recognize students who are driving awareness and mobilizing youth to be catalysts for innovative models and solutions to eliminate hunger in America.

Each national STOP Hunger Scholarship recipient receives a $5,000 scholarship and a matching $5,000 donation to their affiliated hunger relief organization. Added consideration is given to those students working to combat childhood hunger.

Applications are available to students from kindergarten through graduate school and are accepted through December 5th. For more on this scholarship and other scholarship opportunities, conduct a free scholarship search today!

Are you a girl who demonstrates budding entrepreneurship, is taking the first steps toward financial independence or is making a difference in your community? If so, the Guardian Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Award Program is right up your alley.

The Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Award Program is an annual initiative designed by the Guardian Life Insurance Company to recognize the enterprising spirit of girls ages 12 to 18. Every year, prizes totaling $30,000 are granted to three top winners and 12 finalists to further their entrepreneurial pursuits or use to fund their college educations.

If this sounds like the scholarship for you, apply now or, if you’re interested in finding other scholarship opportunities to suit your unique situation, complete a free scholarship search today!

Hey, you. The one with the sketchpad full of doodles, memory card filled with images and computer crammed with creations. Yes, YOU. Want to score a college scholarship and help out your school at the same time? Of course you do, because in addition to being wildly talented, you’re also a good person. Here’s what you need to do to make a difference in your life (a $1,000 scholarship) and the lives of others ($5,000 for your school’s music program and 5 HP Pavilion dv6z laptops for your school’s art program) with the Make Art. Save Art. Scholarship from DoSomething.org.

Like the award, the requirements are also in two parts. First, create a PC wallpaper using either your photographic, graphic design or traditional visual art skills and tell DoSomething.org why you think art education is important and why it should continue to be part of the curriculum. Next, upload your original work to Facebook and Twitter and see how many people share your design. Each time someone shares what you created, you’re one step closer to victory so use any and all connections you have to ensure your art is seen. And if a scholarship and funds for the arts aren’t enough, the winning designs will be available for download as PC wallpapers and featured on DoSomething.org.

There are many talented artists out there but only one entrant age 25 or younger will receive this excellent award. For more information, visit www.makeartsaveart.org and for other scholarships like it, conduct a free scholarship search at Scholarships.com.

Art school is expensive and financial prospects for those who receive art degrees are not always certain. For budding artists at any level of education, art scholarships can make a huge difference, as can gaining exposure for your works of art.

This week's Scholarship of the Week, the MyArtSpace Art Scholarship Competition, gives art school students at both the undergraduate and graduate level the chance to earn up to $5,000 in scholarship money. Students compile an online portfolio, complete with artist's statement and CV, and post it to MyArtSpace for judging. Winning entries will exhibit artistic excellence in a visual arts medium, contemporary or traditional, including photography and video.

Prize: Undergraduate and graduate entries will be judged separately, with the following awards for each: First prize: $5,000; Second prize: $2,000; Third prize: $1,000

Eligibility: Current or prospective undergraduate or graduate students pursuing a BFA, MFA, or other approved degree program in an accredited art school. Applicants can enter either the undergraduate or graduate category of judging, but not both.

Deadline: December 16, 2009

Required Material: Completed online registration and high-resolution samples of work. To enter, artsists create a free portfolio on MyArtSpace.com or NYAXE.com and upload up to 20 images. Including an artist statement and a CV or résumé is also encouraged.

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.

Returning students have many options available to them when it comes to finding money for college. Soroptimist International is one organization that wants to help women better their job prospects. The group has local clubs across the country that fund Women's Opportunity Awards for women who are the primary providers of their families and wish to return to school for undergraduate degrees or vocational skills training programs. If you fit that category and are someone who wants to not only better your life through additional skills but have come across financial hurdles to do so, consider applying for an award through Soroptimist International, this week's Scholarship of the Week.

Soroptimist International is a volunteer service organization for business and professional women. Those who win their local chapters' awards are then eligible to compete in regional and international competitions. The $2,000 award can be earmarked for not only tuition and fees, but any costs associated with returning to school, including childcare and transportation.

Prize: $2,000

Eligibility: Eligible women are the primary providers for their families, have financial need, and are looking for funding to pay for an undergraduate degree program or vocational skills training program. Applicants must be residents of one of Soroptimist International of the Americas’ member countries/territories: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guam, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United States of America, or Venezuela. Applicants must not have been a previous recipient of a Soroptimist Women’s Opportunity Award, and are not a Soroptimist member, employee or immediate family of either.

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Required Material: An online application which will include a personal statement about why you would be a deserving recipient, and two letters of recommendation. Applicants will be asked questions about their financial need.

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.

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.

As unemployment rates remain high and budgets stay tight, more people are looking to wait out the struggling economy by going back to college. Competition then has become more fierce not only on the admissions level, but for funding to pay for those educations. While many schools are doing whatever they can to continue offering scholarships and grants, the economy has affected some schools' available funding. Good news is, scholarships do exist, and there are things you can do to have a better chance of landing one.

• Apply early, and apply often. Scholarships wait for no one, and a later deadline doesn't mean you should wait until the very last moment to apply. Generous scholarships like the Coca-Cola Scholars Program have deadlines in October, for example. It's not a bad move to look ahead and start applying for awards beyond this year, either, to get an idea of funding you'll need in the future. To see scholarships that have deadlines this fall, conduct a a free scholarship search and see the dozens you could be eligible for.
• Don't rule out local scholarships. While funding packages from your intended college are often more generous than outside awards, it won't hurt to supplement any funding you're awarded or have a backup plan in case what your school offers covers less of your fees than you thought. Local scholarships from your dad's employer or your local bowling league are also less competitive than college-based awards or the more well-known contests, and often look at things beyond your GPA and test scores to factor in things like community service, your experience with that organization and financial need. New scholarships are being created all the time, so check on your search throughout the school year for the most up-to-date results.
• Stand out on the application. It's not too late to make up for that less-than-stellar grade in your high school Algebra class, especially if you're looking ahead to scholarship opportunities beyond your freshman year in college. GPAs matter from your entire high school career, so don't slack off when the senioritis hits. Don't be afraid of AP classes unless it's a subject you know you'd get a low grade in, and get involved in your school and your community as it's also not always about academics. Work on that resume by applying for internships that fit your intended major, and put in more hours of practice if you're going for a sports or music scholarship. It's never too late to make yourself a more desirable scholarship candidate.
• Appeal your award. If you've done everything you can - filled out your FAFSA early, put together impressive scholarship applications - and you feel the financial aid you've been offered from your school is unfair or if your circumstances have changed dramatically since applying for government aid, you still have options. Schools are more likely to reconsider packages in the current climate, and you could be eligible for more grant and scholarship funding, the best kind that you don't need to pay back.

For more information on upcoming scholarships and other helpful financial aid tips, visit our College Resources. Tomorrow, we'll explore your options on keeping college costs low and looking at a school's program versus its reputation.

Briana G. wants to create a "healthy Twinkie." While completing an Associate's degree in Baking and Pastry Arts, she became concerned about America's obesity epidemic and realized she wanted to learn to craft more forgiving sweets. To help her complete her degree in Food Science and Dietetics at Colorado State University, Scholarships.com has named Briana the 2009 recipient of the annual $1,000 College Culinary Arts Scholarship.

Scholarships.com has been awarding Area of Study College Scholarships since summer 2008 to help students like Briana meet their college and career goals. The competition grants a $1,000 scholarship each month to a high school senior or undergraduate student planning to pursue a career in one of thirteen areas of study, including Culinary Arts.

"These students have such creative ideas and reasons for choosing a particular major and, through this program, we are able to help them share these ideas and aspirations," said Kevin Ladd, Vice President for Scholarships.com. "The Area of Study College Scholarships help students pay for college and also challenge them to really think about why they want to study a given subject or go into a particular field."

Applicants are asked to compose essays describing what influenced their career choices. In her submission, Briana described reconciling her desire to make "delicious, eye-catching desserts" with her growing awareness of how poor diets contribute to obesity. Her goal now it to make healthy version of the "sweet treats that Americans love."

The Scholarships.com Area of Study Scholarships are open to all U.S. citizens who will be attending college in the fall of 2009, regardless of age, test scores or grade point average. To apply for the Scholarships.com Area of Study College Scholarships, students can visit www.scholarships.com, conduct a free college scholarship search and complete an online scholarship application.

A complete list of Area of Study scholarship winners, as well as their winning essays is available on our Student Winners page.

A Web site that aims to help more Hispanics graduate from four-year colleges has kicked off a research campaign to find out about those students' perspectives on higher education to make services for them more effective.

Latinosincollege.com will offer the survey, designed with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, for the next few months on their site. The questions, which target high school, college and MBA students, explore students' thought processes in choosing careers, whether they apply for scholarships and how many receive them, and where they seek out their career advice. Also included are questions specific to students' experiences as Hispanics, namely how they feel about assimilating and maintaining their identities post-high school. The site's founder Mariela Dabbah said she hopes the results will make it easier for outside organizations to find more ways to help Hispanic students succeed in college and the workplace.

The site is geared toward the college-bound with blogs by educators and high school and college students, a resource guide that includes posts on topics like leadership development, managing a social life, money and time in college, and being the first in the family to attend college. Students also have access to other students and professionals, with "Ambassadors" responding to questions. The Ambassadors, who mentor high school students applying to college, attend youth workshops to learn about issues and concerns on the minds of those pursuing a higher education.

Dabbah came up with the site as a response to her own experiences looking for a job as an immigrant from Argentina and the lack of information for a population that she felt was being underserved. According to the site, Hispanic students have the highest high school dropout rate of any group at 50 percent and a college enrollment rate of 20 percent. A study done several years ago by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that although the number of Hispanics going to college was slowly rising due in part to the rapidly growing population, they were still half as likely to finish their bachelor's degrees as white students.

Joan Sotero Alvarez, a blogger on the site and assistant principal in the Progreso Independent School District in Texas, struggled to earn his bachelor's degree. He felt the pressure as the first in his family to finish college, resulting in several failed attempts at the state's entrance exam. Eventually, he was not only a successful undergraduate, but completed a master's degree as well. Today, he mentors students in Texas and Mexico who are at risk of dropping out of school. "I don't see failure in my students; I see hope," he says.

Photography is a fun hobby, but can be a difficult profession to break into. Whether you're going for studio photography or professional photojournalism, much of your success depends on building a portfolio and gaining exposure for your work.

Amateur photographers who are interested in receiving not only a college scholarship, but also industry recognition and professional internship experience, should be sure to check out this week's Scholarship of the Week, the College Photographer of the Year contest.

In addition to scholarship money, the student with the best portfolio will also receive the opportunity to intern with National Geographic, a potentially career-launching award. Winners in individual categories are also awarded equipment and educational opportunities from Nikon, the Poynter Institute, and the Missouri Photo Workshop. With sponsors including National Geographic, Nikon, and the National Press Photographers Foundation, entering the College Photographer of the Year competition will help you gain exposure in the photography and photojournalism industries, and you may get some cash out of the deal, as well.

Prize: First prize: $1,000; Second prize: $500

Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in any college or university worldwide are eligible. Entrants may not have worked as professional photographers or paid interns for longer than two years prior to entering the contest.

Deadline: September 27, 2009

Required Material: A scholarship application, available on the College Photographer of the Year website, and a portfolio of photos taken between September 1, 2009 and August 30, 2009. Complete application instructions will be available Sunday, August 30.

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.