10 Scholarship Competitions for High School Students
If you are a motivated high school student, participating in scholarship competitions could be a great way to ease your financial burden for higher education. Participating in competitions and challenges during high school is recommended for everyone as it helps you apply your knowledge in solving real-world problems while boosting your college application resume.
Most of the competitions invite you to participate in teams, so they are also an opportunity for you to work on your soft skills, including team building and communication skills. They are academically immersive and will also challenge you to brush up on some basic concepts and learn a few more!
Whether you're a budding scientist, an aspiring entrepreneur, or see yourself as a future leader, there's a competition offering rewards and scholarships that could benefit you. So, in this blog, we will explore the 10 scholarship competitions suitable for high school students.
Scholarship Amount: Up to $10,000
Location: On-site, host institute changes every year (In 2024, the Michigan State University hosted the competitions)
Participation Cost: Varies depending on activities but will be between $100- $350 per team
Dates: Rules and timeline for the 2025 program will be released in the first week of September 2024 here.
Registration/Submission Deadline: To be announced
Eligibility: High School students can participate in Division C events, which are open to students between 9 and 12 grades.
The Science Olympiad is not a single competition but rather a collection of multiple events that allow you to take part in a field of science related to your interests. The events are open to both middle and high school students, who can participate in the Division B and Division C competitions, respectively.
Apart from the bragging rights of having competed in this prestigious competition, you also stand the chance to win cash prizes and scholarships for your future studies! A $10,000 Science Olympiad Founders' Scholarship is available for five high-achieving Science Olympiad seniors annually.
You need to register as a team from your school at the state-level competition and if you make it to the top of your state rankings; you are invited to national finals at the host institute, which changes every year.
Scholarship Amount: U.S. EE Savings Bonds worth up to $10,000
Location: Virtual. The national winners will get to visit Washington D.C. alongside a guardian
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: You can work on a three-week, two-month, or three-month-long projects
Registration/Submission Deadline: The submission deadline will be in January 2025 (tentative, last year the deadline was extended to February first week)
Eligibility: Open to all K-12 students. High school students can participate in the event category open for students between grades 10 and 12
Hosted by Toshiba & National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), ExploraVision encourages high schoolers to focus on real-world problem-solving in STEM. As a competitor, you are expected to form a team of 2-4 and conduct research on how current technology can be improved.
Your project submissions must include an abstract, a description section, a bibliography, and five sample web pages. The project description is the main part and should not exceed 11 pages. This is what sample projects generally look like, and here are some of their winning projects!
Each member of the 8 National Finalists teams wins an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC in June for ExploraVision Awards Weekend alongside one parent/legal guardian. The top four team members get U.S. EE Savings Bonds worth $10,000 at maturity. The other four teams win bonds worth $5,000.
Scholarship Amount: Up to $25,000 per year scholarship to select colleges
Location: Virtual. The finalists are invited to the Conrad Innovation Summit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida
Participation Cost: Free for the first two stages; $499 for the innovation stage, discounts available for teams with financial need
Dates: August 2024 to April 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Registration/Submission Deadline: August to November 2024 to register for the first stage (tentative, based on the 2023-24 program)
Eligibility: Open to all students between the ages of 13 to 18 years.
The Conrad Challenge is a year-long multi-phase innovation competition for high school students in which they are tasked with pitching solutions for various STEM-related problems. The Conrad Challenge will officially become one of Space Center Houston’s educational programs in the 2024-2025 edition. Participants work in teams of 2 to 5 members with an adult mentor who needs to register the team.
The competition takes place in four stages: The Activation Stage, Lean Canvas Stage, Innovation Stage, and Power Pitch Stage. Finalists will be invited to the Conrad Challenge Innovation Summit in Houston for the Power Pitch Stage. Here, you will pitch their innovations to a live panel of judges from various industries.
Teams who make it to the innovation stage and finalist teams are eligible for yearly scholarships to Menlo College, Lewis & Clark College, Clarkson University, College of Charleston, and Florida Institute of Technology. The Conrad Challenge is a comprehensive test of your endurance, perseverance, and creativity. You can read more about the challenge here.
4. Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
Scholarship Amount: Up to $75,000
Location: Fairs are conducted at local, regional, state, and national levels. See the list of the locations of the 2023-24 competition here.
Participation Cost: Will vary depending on the location and events. You will have to check the fee for your state-level fairs
Dates: May 2025 (tentative, based on the 2023-24 event)
Registration/Submission Deadline: Nothing as such, you need to compete at an ISEF-affiliated fair to qualify for the main event
Eligibility: Open to all students in grades 9–12, who are not over the age of 20 years on May 2025
Regeneron ISEF is an annual science fair organized by the non-profit Society for Science and is the largest and most prestigious research-oriented science fair in the world. It helps you gain exposure to scientific research processes and gives you an international stage to present your work.
The only condition is that the research projects should encompass no more than 12 months of continuous research and must not include research performed more than 18 months in advance of the Regeneron ISEF competition. There are cash awards for the top four teams in every category, while scholarships worth $75,000 towards your higher education are available for the top-performing teams/ individuals.
To learn more about ISEF’s structure, categories, prizes, and past winners, check out this detailed guide!
5. Davidson Fellows Scholarships
Scholarship Amount: Up to $50,000
Location: Virtual. The award ceremony is held in Washington, DC
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: September 2025 (Final results announcement, tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Registration/Submission Deadline: February 2025
Eligibility: Open to all students who are younger than 18 years, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
Davidson Fellow Scholarships are offered to gifted high school students who are required to submit projects in these fields: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, and Outside the Box. The requirements for the scholarships in each of the fields are different and defined separately on the website. You can check out more details about the same here.
Selected projects can be awarded scholarships from $10,000 to $50,000!
If you’re interested in learning more, you can look at this detailed guide here!
6. National Merit Scholarship Program
Scholarship Amount: Up to $2,500
Location: Virtual/ PSAT exam center, which is usually a local high school
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: October 2024 - February 2026 (from the first test to the final results, for current high school juniors)
Registration/Submission Deadline: October 2024 (tentative, based on the previous session)
Eligibility: Only high school juniors are eligible to apply.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a purely academic competition that tests your knowledge across various domains for recognition and scholarships. The competition, which began in 1955 and takes place annually, sees over a million students participate every year, with only a handful of scholarships, making it very competitive and prestigious!
To enter the competition, you will have to take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Once you have taken the first test, every further communication will take place via your school. If you qualify as a finalist, you will be awarded 1 of 3 merit scholarships:
National Merit ($2,500) - Every finalist competes for this scholarship, which is awarded on a state representational basis.
Corporate-sponsored merit scholarships - Corporate sponsors designate these awards for children of their employees or members, for residents of a community where a company has operations, or for Finalists with career plans the sponsor wishes to encourage.
College-sponsored merit scholarships - Each year colleges and universities support about 3,800 Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists. Annual scholarship awards range between $500 - $2,000.
You can look at this blog here for more detail on this competition!.
Scholarship Amount: Up to $25,000 annual scholarship to the Rochester Institute of Technology
Location: Varies. In 2024 Rochester Institute of Technology hosted the competition
Participation Cost: $50 application fee per project in the initial stage. $425 participation fee per participant for the final event
Dates: March to June 2025
Registration/Submission Deadline: March 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Eligibility: Open to all students who are younger than 18 years, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The Genius Olympiad is an international high school competition that focuses on environmental issues, scientific innovation, and creative projects. These projects often deal with innovative solutions to environmental problems, creative expressions of environmental awareness, and scientific research aimed at sustainable development.
Winners are recognized for their outstanding contributions to environmental awareness and sustainability, with awards granted at different levels, including bronze, silver, and gold medals. Participants in the Genius Olympiad are also eligible for renewable annual scholarships of up to $25,000 to an undergraduate program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, depending on their performance.
We’ve covered this Olympiad in detail which you should check out if you’re interested!
8. MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge
Scholarship Amount: Up to $20,000
Location: Virtual. Finalists are invited to the judging event in New York City
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: November 2024 to April 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Registration/Submission Deadline: February 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Eligibility: Open to all high school or equivalent students from the U.S., England, and Wales.
The Mathworks Math Modeling Challenge is an annual free-to-enter contest for high school students who are interested in testing their mathematical and data science skills. M3 Challenge posts open-ended and timely problems in every edition and you are expected to provide insight and suggest solutions via the use of the mathematical modeling techniques.
You have to participate in teams consisting of 3 to 5 members and which have an adult, preferably your school teacher, as a coach, who will register the team on your behalf. Only two teams from a school can participate in the challenge, so you might need to be in touch with your school teachers well in advance of the registration deadlines.
The website has a detailed resources section, which will be useful in your preparations. The top six teams overall for outstanding mathematical approaches to the three main problem statements in the Challenge problem, with the winning team taking home a scholarship of $20,000.
We’ve covered the scholarship in detail here and you should definitely check that blog out for a better understanding of the terms of this competition.
9. Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Scholarship Amount: Up to $15,000
Location: Virtual. Finalists are invited to the judging event in New York City
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: April 2025 to August 2025 (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Registration/Submission Deadline: April 2025 for the state-level championship, which forms the basis for further rounds. (tentative, based on the 2024 program)
Eligibility: Open to all students currently in grades 9-12
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) is the world's most prestigious award presented to a high school student for a water research project. Students compete in this competition to provide solutions to the world's present and future water problems. You can participate individually or as a team of two. Your projects should use a research-oriented approach.
Your project should be in a research paper format and will be judged based on relevance, creativity, methodology, subject knowledge, practical skills, and report and presentation. Projects exploring water quality, water resources management, or water and wastewater treatment will be given preference.
A $10,000 scholarship and a free ticket to the international competition in Stockholm, Sweden is awarded to the national winner. The international winner receives a prize of $15,000 for themselves and $5,000 for their school.
If you are interested, we have discussed this competition and provided some tips here!
Scholarship Amount: A full scholarship to the University of Vermont for a four-year undergraduate program.
Location: Virtual. Finalists are invited to the University of Vermont, Burlington
Participation Cost: Free
Dates: January 2025 to April 2025
Registration/Submission Deadline: February 2025
Eligibility: Open to high school students who are in grades 10-12 at the time of the submission deadline
The Vermont Pitch Challenge is open to high school students with entrepreneurial skills who are invited to pitch innovative business concepts that will make a difference in their communities. Students can participate individually or in teams with a maximum of three participants. You'll have help from experts on how to develop a successful business model, create a compelling pitch, and achieve goals through an enterprise throughout the competition.
The prize for the competition-winning team or individual is a full scholarship to the University of Vermont for a four-year undergraduate program. Second and third-placed teams get a $5,000 check each, while fourth and fifth-placed participants get a $1,000 check.
If you’re looking to build unique projects in the field of AI/ML, consider applying to Veritas AI!
Veritas AI was founded by Harvard graduate students, and through the programs, you get a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI and computer science while collaborating on real-world projects. You can also work 1-1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn data science and AI with us. You can apply here!
Image Source - Conrad Challenge Logo