No essay scholarships are scholarships that don’t require you to write a lengthy essay to submit your application for the scholarship. Writing scholarship applications that do have an essay can be time-consuming as you must tailor your response to their specific question, generally that explain the qualities and experience you have, and why you believe you deserve to win the scholarship.
Scholarships without essay may simply just require a quick form, that only takes a couple of minutes; the form will contain mostly your contact information. Some of the no essay scholarships are aimed at a specific group of people.
You may have one simple question to answer or a sentence to complete; or it could be a video you need to submit; or signing up to social media and adding friends to do some marketing for a company; drawing a doodle; doing a task in the community; caring for someone; creating an infographic or a poster; or giving a speech; write a play, etc. If essay-writing isn’t your forte, but you’d still like to gain a scholarship this could be a good way of achieving a scholarship.
Top No Essay Scholarships (Without Writing Contests) That You Can Apply
Here a list of scholarships that you can apply for without writing essays.
#1. Doodle 4 Google
Google have an incredible opportunity for students in K-12, whereby the winner could receive a $30,000 scholarship. The competition has been running for 9 years now. To apply students must create a piece of art-work that predicts what they think the future world will be like. Students can use any medium to achieve this from paint, to clay, crayons, graphic design, or even food items. The art work must have all the letters of G-O-O-G-L-E in it and entries may be used on the Google site, with just one scholarship winner.
There’s a panel of judges who select the winner; this year they include singers, athletes, celebrities, animators, writers, and engineers. The winner will get their Google doodle on Google’s website search engine page for a day; as well as their own $30,000 scholarship, they’ll also get a $50,000 prize for their school; they’ll get a trip to Google in California; a Chromebook and an Android tablet.
There are four runner-up scholarships too, each worth $5000. Students do need to be in either a US school; or a school in Puerto Rico or Guam and need to be a citizen or permanent legal resident. The head of the Google Doodle team recommended that the winner needed to express their individuality and communicate with clarity a simple strong message, that translates well to a lap-top screen or mobile.
For more information, click here!
#2. FormSwift Scholarship Program
This is a $1,000 scholarship, and for students to apply they must create an Infographic, which is a business plan for one of the following business areas: a clothing company; a non-profit organization; a start-up; a transportation company; or a restaurant.
The scholarship is aimed at entrepreneurial students, who intend to go into similar careers after College. The scholarship is for graduating high school students, or those enrolled in College or University. International students are eligible to apply. Infographic entries need to be emailed in, with contact details and the name of your educational establishment.
For more information, click here!
#3. DoSomething.Org
DoSomething.Org offer the winning student a scholarship up to $22,000. In order to apply students sign up for a campaign; complete the campaign (these vary in the length of time they take, and some take less than 5 minutes) and then finally take a photo that demonstrates you’ve completed the campaign and upload that to the site. Once you’ve done that you can enter numerous scholarships.
There’s no essay required, no need to meet a certain GPA; no need to fill out a lengthy application form; and no need to get reference letters from academics or people in authority who know you well. Different campaigns have different amounts of scholarship worth.
A scholarship for $1,500 requires students to put post-it notes with messages on, on the mirrors in school bathrooms to give students who read them, a positive boost to build up their sense of self-esteem. Another, again for $1,500 encourages people to conserve energy by switching off any electrical devices that aren’t being used. There are scholarships where the task is based around communicating with the elderly so that they’re not so lonely and isolated.
There’s a scholarship where the task is to help students to be aware of prescription medication abuse. Another scholarship campaign is to discourage pharmacies from selling tobacco. A different scholarship, this time for $5000 involves a game of ‘would you rather’ which encourages students to save money. To be eligible to apply, students need to be aged 25 or under, and live in the US or Canada.
For more information, click here!
#4. Caring.Com
Caring.com offer a student-caregiver bi-annual scholarship. This is for students who care for a relative who is an elderly adult (parent, grand-parent, spouse, or other relative), whilst the student is at college or University. To be eligible students must live in the US.
The scholarship acknowledges how demanding it can be to juggle caregiving responsibilities with trying to study. Caring.com do offer the traditional 1,500 word essay option or a non essay option, of a 2 minute video which needs to explain about who you care for, how you care for them, how caring has influenced your study choice and future career path; and how the scholarship would make a difference to you as a student and care-giver.
Three students are awarded the scholarship each year of $1,500 which can be used towards tuition and books. Entries for the scholarship need to be inspiring, compelling and extraordinary and show the impact that the scholarship would have on the student, and the person they care for.
For more information, click here!
#5. Unigo $10K Scholarship
Unigo is a network for current and future college students, offering advice and reviews. They offer a $10,000 scholarship. To apply applicants need to respond to a question, with a very short written response of 250 words or less (it can’t exceed the word-limit).
This year’s question requires candidates to answer: “Weighing the expected investment and return, is college worth it for you? Why?” Applicant must be at least 13 years; they must be legal US residents and be enrolled in a post-secondary educational establishment (College, University or trade school). The application needs to be made online via the website
For more information, click here!
#6. College Xpress $10,000 Scholarship Contest
College Xpress is a community that allows students to compare Colleges and get matches to ones that are suitable, and find out about funding opportunities. This scholarship couldn’t be simpler to apply for; all applicants need to do is register on the website (it’s free) or complete a response card in one of three Carnegie Communications’ magazines (which fall into the categories of Careers and Colleges; Public Colleges & Universities and Private Colleges and Universities). Once this has been done, applicants have been automatically entered and one winner is chosen at random every year. Applicants must be studying at one of the member schools.
For more information, click here!
#7. The American Legion National High School Oratorical Contest Scholarship
The American Legion offers three oratorical scholarships dependent on whether someone comes first, second or third. These scholarships are $18,000; $16,000 and $14,000 respectively. Each state winner gets a $1,500 scholarship; and each first-round winner gets a $1,500 scholarship so there are a lot on offer and it’s really worth applying.
To be eligible applicants must be legal US citizens who are students, under the age of 20 at high school or junior high school. Students are not allowed to use notes, props or any electronic, digital equipment. The oration needs to be at least 8 minutes but a maximum of 10 minutes. Students wait in a sound-proof room whilst other students are speaking.
Contestants need to wear business attire, and someone over the age of 21 must accompany each contestant. Students are assigned a topic, which is drawn in front of an audience, they need to speak for a minimum of 3 minutes, and a maximum of 5 on this. They are given five minutes to prepare their thoughts. The topic will be on an aspect of the US Constitution, for example one of the amendments. The speech must be given in English.
For more information, click here!
#8. Connecther.org
Connecther offers a competition for the ‘Girls Impact the World Film Festival’ whereby applicants need to submit a 3-5 minute short film. The film is required to raise awareness of issues that affect females around the world, or suggest a solution to challenges that women face. There is also a Green IS category where films need to be on an environmental issue that impacts upon females or shows how women are solving environmental issues. The prize for winning this is $2,500.
To be eligible to apply students need to be 25 years old or under, they need to be an undergraduate student, or full-time high school student. There are some countries that aren’t eligible to apply due to the prohibition of export of goods and services to the countries. Students can submit up to two films. Once you’ve submitted your entry on the website, then you need to share and encourage ‘likes’ to this as much as possible via social media (Facebook and Twitter) to raise awareness. Students also need to provide proof that they’re enrolled at school or university.
There are different genres of film that students can submit. The film needs to contain an end marker still image from Connecther.com, and the end slide also needs to include 2 organizations connected to the issue your film is about. It’s recommended to choose Connecther projects. The film needs to be original with no copyrighted material.
For more information, click here!
Essay Scholarships (Creative Writing Contests)
Essay scholarships usually require you to write an essay as part of the application process to apply for a scholarship. Often along with the essay, students are required to fill out a form; show proof of their GPA (that must meet a certain standard); provide academic and personal references; and to demonstrate their financial need (often with income/expenditure forms or an online system).
If you’re skilled at writing a persuasive argument and you know how to write scholarship essays then essay competition could appeal to you. They can be time-consuming to complete, gathering all the supporting documents and formulating your essay; but can be worth it as the scholarship prize can often be higher than for no-essay scholarships. The benefits of essay scholarships are that if you select wisely which one to apply for, due to the lengthy time-consuming procedure; you may stand more chance of success than the easier to apply for no essay scholarships where more people apply.
Your essay needs to be unique, and show your individuality, self-confidence, plus your enthusiasm for the subject. Ensure that in your essay, you echo the language and keywords used in all the accompanying literature/guidelines and give examples to support your points.
To find out more about essay scholarships, visit this page!
