5th Annual Essay Contest Kicks Off with $2,500 First Prize!
Essays are now being accepted for the 2017 A Bridge for Kids Essay Contest!Click Here for Printable Version of Essay Contest Rules and Application
Essay Topic and Judging: Students may enter the 2017 A Bridge for Kids Essay Contest by submitting an original essay of 750 words or fewer describing their thoughts on the following:
What is the biggest challenge you have had to overcome? How did you overcome it and how did that affect your life?
A panel of volunteers will judge the essays and the winners will be picked based on the creativity, originality, clarity and overall impact of the essay.
2017 Contest Prizes:
1st Place- $2,500 sponsorship
2nd Place- $1,000 sponsorship
3rd-5th- $500 sponsorship
6th-10th- $100 Amazon Gift Card
Note: Deadline for entry is midnight on March 12th, 2017 with winners being announced the week of April 10th, 2017
Past Winners:2016 Essay Contest Winner – Kiara Gomez, The Preuss School, UCSD2015 Essay Contest Winner – Andria Montgomery, Patrick Henry High School2014 Essay Contest Winner - Virginia Reyes, The Preuss School, UCSD2013 Essay Contest Winner - Laura Castro, The Preuss School, UCSD 2017 CONTEST RULES AND ELIGIBILITYContest Eligibility and Rules:
- Contest is open to all High School students who currently qualify for the government sponsored free and reduced lunch program.
- To apply, students must be currently enrolled in high school.
- Contestants are encouraged to discuss the essay topic with teachers, parents or other friends but must write the essay by themselves, in his or her own words.
- Essays must be 750 words or less and double spaced.
- Essays will be judged by a panel based on the creativity, originality, clarity and overall impact of the essay. Essays are judged blind, as all essays are assigned numbers and the panel will not have information (name or school) on the author.
- All essays must be accompanied by an A Bridge for Kids application (click here for rules and application). PLEASE NOTE that all essays must be in digital form (Microsoft Word or Google Docs preferred). No scanned essays will be accepted.
- Essays can be sent via email (preferred method) to info@abridgeforkids.org or can be mailed to: A Bridge for Kids 4445 Eastgate Mall- Suite #200 San Diego, CA 92121. Mailed entries must be postmarked no later than March 12, 2017.
- All winners will be contacted during the week of April 10, 2017.
- Winners must sign a photo release form prior to receiving their sponsorship.
- To learn more about what is covered by A Bridge for Kids sponsorship please visit our web site @ abridgeforkids.org and click on the “What We Do” tab.
UPDATE 3/20/17
Thanks to everyone who entered our 5th Annual Essay Contest. We received 200 entries this year in what will likely be our closest contest ever! As of today we have narrowed down the submissions to a final 20 and will be selecting the top 10 and winner over the next week or so. In the meantime we thought we would share two of the top 20 finalist with you.
Duyen Tran from Crawford High School
2017 Essay #147Good luck to Duyen and our other 19 finalists! UPDATE 3/22/17Two more of our top 20 Finalists:Mayerling Colin, a 9th grader from The Preuss School, UCSD2017 Essay #99Alyssa Silva, Hilltop High School, Class of 20182017 Essay #167