Annual National Contests for Students

Over the years, I've shared some wonderful scholarship opportunities in the form of contests for students. I wanted to put them all together for you to look through, plus add a few more that I've found online that I consider inspirational for families. Most of these provide significant scholarship funds to help college(bound) students. This will be a growing list, so bookmark this page and reference it throughout the year as I discover more contests to add to this list. And if you know of one that's not listed and you think it should be, reach out to me and share it!

This post contains affiliate links.

Scholarship Contests for Aspiring Writers

The Lune Spark Young Writers Short Story Contest has two categories in which students may compete: ages 10 to 13, and ages 13 to 16. They award $2,000 in cash prizes.

The Hispanic Heritage Month Writing Contest doesn't have a logo, but it begins each year on September 15th and is open to middle and high school students. The winner receives $1,500 in scholarship funds.

The Profile in Courage Essay Contest is hosted by the JFK Presidential Library & Museum, this contest is open to high schoolers and runs September through mid-January. Winners receive between $1,000 to $10,000 in scholarship funds.

Scholarship Contests for Aspiring Artists

The Doodle 4 Google contest is entering its 14th year and remains one of my favorite art contests for students. (The $30K scholarship is nothing to sneeze at either!)

This one actually fits into two categories (art & writing), but I'm placing it here for balance. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are part of the nation's longest running award program for students in 7th through 12th grades.

The Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest challenges young fashion designers to create their prom outfit completely out of Duct tape. The grand prize winners (tux & dress) each win $10K in scholarship money. (My favorite winner was Larissa with her beautiful dress inspired by the Folklorico dresses with a hint of Chiapas.)

Scholarship Contests for Young STEAMers/Scientists

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge is for students in 5th through 8th grade and nurtures their inner problem solver.

The KidVentor Toy Challenge is for young children ages 6 to 13, who are challenged to come up with the next best toy and a chance for a $2,500 scholarship PLUS have their toy manufactured, marketed, and sold!

More Resources to Help Your Child Get Scholarships

The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2023: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes

How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay: 30 Essays That Won Over $3 Million in Scholarships

Confessions of a Scholarship Winner:
The Secrets That Helped Me Win $500,000 in Free Money for College- How You Can Too!

Scholarship Strategies: Finding and Winning the Money You Need

Other Posts You May Enjoy

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• Scholarships for DREAMers

Goya's Culinary Arts Scholarships

Heads up! Do you know a college freshman majoring in Culinary Arts or Food Sciences?

If so, make sure they know about Goya's Culinary Arts Scholarships! The annual (and renewable!) scholarships are for full-time study at an accredited two- or four-year college or university of the student’s choice.

Each year, students are awarded $5,000 and may be renewed three more times for a total of $20,000!

But you need to act fast because the application deadline is February 17, 2020.

To be eligible to apply for the scholarship, you must meet the follow criteria:

• Be a United States citizen, a legal permanent resident, or a student granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
• U.S. citizens must provide a copy of their birth certificate, U.S. passport, certificate of citizenship or naturalization certificate.
• Permanent residents must provide a copy of their current permanent resident card or a current passport stamped I-551.
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) must provide a copy of their DACA approval letter.
• Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or its equivalent.
• Candidates must be obtaining their first undergraduate degree.
• Must be willing to complete 10 hours per month of community service.
• Must be entering an accredited two-year or four-year institution as freshmen and majoring in a full-time Culinary Arts or Food Sciences program for the 2020-21 academic year.
• Applicants may also be children of a Goya employee, broker, or independent driver provided they meet all other eligibility requirements.

Scholarships for DREAMers

Are you DACA eligible - or know someone who is? - and planning to enroll in college, but need financial aid? TheDream.us is now accepting applications for its 2017-2018 scholarship round!

Visit www.TheDream.US to learn if you can qualify for up to $80,000 in tuition/fees support.

Pass it on.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund Makes College a Reality for Latinos

This is a sponsored post with Hispanic Scholarship Fund. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I was growing up, there was never any question about whether or not I would attend college. My mother talked about it in everyday conversations.

"When you go to college..."

"Work hard so you can pick the college you want..."

"While you are in college..."

"You should think about that after college..."

So in my mind, it was always a part of my future. It was a goal toward which I was working. I was excited about it. I knew that it was the path to fulfilling the plans I had for my future. And once I was actually in college, my whole life changed (but that's another story).

I never really worried about how we were going to pay for it, though. I know now that my mother did. She agonized about how we would afford for me to attend. I applied for a couple of scholarships, and received one, but in the end, I was fortunate because my mother was offered a position teaching journalism and broadcast news at our local university, which enabled me to attend at a greatly reduced rate.

But not every Latino family has that opportunity. And for too many Latino families, the expense is what causes them to not even consider college as an option for their children. Some have no idea that there are tools available to help them financially afford to send their children to college. They don't know about student loans, work-study program, or scholarships that are available specifically for Latino students.

Even more important is that too many Hispanic families don't realize that a college degree can be their ticket out of poverty. Because people with a college degree are more likely to make $1,000,000 dollars more in their lifetime than those who don't graduate from college.

RELATED: Top Five Reasons Why Latino Children Need to Go to College

The point of all this is that as parents, we have many powerful tools at our disposal for making college a reality for our kids. Daily conversations is by far, the most impactful tool because it creates a mindset that sets everything else into motion. And we have to start when our kids are little, so they are conditioned to love learning and to view education as one of the keys to a happy life.

Taking this cue from my own mother (and childhood), I've been talking about college with my own kids for years. Even though the are only in 4th and 6th grade now, I can see the impact when my daughter asks me questions about which colleges have the best bioengineering programs, or when they ask me questions on what it was like when I went to college. I love it best when I hear them say things like, "After I get out of college, I'm going to..."

If we talk about our kids going to college starting when they are small, then it becomes a part of their future - they take it for granted that they'll be going to college and will work toward that goal. And as they get closer to it, they'll actively look for other resources to help them with the financial side of things.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is one of the companies that is making it possible for Hispanic students to attend community colleges or large universities. 

Students and parents can visit the The Hispanic Scholarship Fund website to find the latest information and to apply for scholarships. You'll also find the HSFinder, an online tool  to share and find great information about scholarships, financial aid, careers, internships and more. They even have resources for DREAMers.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is supported by many companies across the country, including Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. who is now an official partner. All these companies are showing their support of Hispanic students by financially backing the Hispanic Scholarship Fund so that it can make so many scholarships available.

How much does the Hispanic Scholarship Fund give?

For the last 40 years, they've provided merit-based scholarships to undergrads and graduate students ranging from $500 - $5,000. This type of funding helps pay for tuition costs, living expenses, books, etc.

Please share this with any family and friends who have teenage children that are thinking about going to college! This program could make the difference in whether or not they apply and/or attend.

Here are some important dates for you to remember:

• Scholarship Application opens: January 1
• Recommender Portal opens: January 15
• Recommender Online Form due: March 30
• Scholarship Application closes: March 30
• Notification for Scholarships: June- July
• Scholar/Waitlist Documents due: August- October
• Scholarship Awards disbursed (pending receipt of all required documents): November-December

So what are you waiting for? It's never too early to starting thinking about college! Get over to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and explore all that they have to offer.

And if you are the parent of a college-bound teen, check out all of my posts with resources for you here.

Other Posts You May Enjoy

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• Thanks to the College Board
  
  
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• DSST Online Study Guides for High Schoolers
  
  
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Doodle for Google 2014 Contest Now Open for Submissions

The Doodle for Google competition is live! And your child only has a little less than 3 weeks to submit his or her award-winning masterpiece. We download the entry form each year and sometimes actually submit the kids' artwork. They asked me about it already, so I'm happy that we'll be doing it again this year.

The contest is open to students in K-12, and this year's theme is: “If I Could Invent One Thing to Make the World a Better Place...”

To inspire your child, be sure to check out the Classroom Activities page. Created to "warm up" your child's brain before he or she sits down to create a Doodle masterpiece, you can watch short videos by official Google Doodlers and how they go about the process of creating many of the artistic doodles we've seen on Google's home page over the years. You can also choose from 3 classroom activities: "Imagine," "Create," and "Share and Collaborate."

Your child could win a $5,000 - $30,000 scholarship, plus a $50,000 Google for Education grant for her school.

This year's submission form is also much simpler than it has been in the past. In previous years, we've downloaded several pages, but this year, there is only one for you to print and mail in. Google must receive your entry by March 20th.

The last Latino student to win the contest was Matteo Lopez back in 2011, who was at the time a second grader in San Francisco. You can check out the video of him accepting his award here.

¡Buena suerte!