How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018

What qualities do you look for when selecting the winner?
Judges’ Roundtable: inside the selection process

If you know what qualities the organization is seeking in the winner, you can highlight those achievements that best showcase these qualities. Carefully read the organization’s literature, website and publications to figure out what the judges seek. Or contact the organization directly to ask. Imagine how much stronger your application will be if you apply for these awards and know what the judges themselves think is most important.

Bob Murray

USA Funds

“In addition to the income requirement, we consider past academic performance and future potential, leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience and career and educational aspirations and goals. Each of these additional criteria carry approximately equal weight.”

Trisha Bazemore

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation

“We are primarily looking at overall achievements in leadership, not only in school activities but also within their communities.”

Georgina Salguero

Hispanic Heritage Awards Foundation

“Because the students select from seven career or talent categories in which to enter, the selection committee asks, ’Do we see this student excelling in this category 10 years from now?’

With any selection, the cream rises to the top. We look at their academics, community service, leadership, as well as their fit and potential within their category.”

Jacqui Love Marshall

Knight Ridder Minority Scholars Program

“We’re looking for primarily academic strength. This is a person who is likely to do well in college so they won’t be struggling.

We also want a person who has a genuine interest in either journalism or the newspaper business.”

Cathy Edwards

Discover Financial Services Inc.

“We’re asking students to not only list community service efforts but to describe why they’ve been meaningful. It makes them stop and reflect. It helps them demonstrate their well-rounded-ness. It’s not the students who have the highest GPA. We’re trying to help the students who might not have scholarship dollars available to them.”

Tracey Wong Briggs

All-USA Academic Teams

“The judges are looking for how you use your intellectual skills outside of the classroom, how you take academic excellence beyond getting an ’A’ in class. Judges ask things like how are you using the knowledge that you’re gaining in the classroom?

Do you have a rigorous curriculum and are you challenging yourself?”

Corisa Moreno

The Music Center Spotlight Awards

“We look at the end result. Our past finalists are at a very professional level. A lot of them go on to major dance companies and institutions such as Juilliard. They are at that professional level where you could stick them on a stage anywhere and they would be a crowd pleaser.”

Laura DiFiore

FreSch! Free Scholarship Search

“We’re looking for originality and creativity, what we call the goosebump effect. When you get to the last sentence of the essay, you lean back and say ’wow.’”

Wanda Carroll

National Association of Secondary School Principals “The National Honor Society Scholarships are based on the students’ character, service and leadership as exemplified in their application and essay. As the name suggests, winners for the Principal’s Leadership Award are selected based on their leadership. Our selection committee seeks a student who is class president, who is involved in athletics being captain or co-captain or who demonstrates community service as the head of their youth group. In short we are looking for someone who is obviously showing leadership qualities. The Prudential Spirit of Community Award, on the other hand, is based entirely on community service. One recent winner started a Suitcases for Kids program to provide suitcases for children in homeless shelters to move their belongings.”

Russ Hobbs

Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship Program “We’re not looking for that person who has a 4.0 GPA and spends all his time in the library. We’re looking for the people who want to give something back to the community, people who we hope will make a difference in the world and who believe in the values that we believe in Rotary. It’s our hope that at some point in the future our winners will become Rotarians.”