Dedman Essay Competition

The Dedman Distinguished Scholars Program at The University of Texas at Austin welcomes submissions from currently enrolled sophomore and junior high school students in Texas with the aim to financially support them and to honor their works.

The Dedman Essay Competition was established in 1989 and since then, the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Program recruits and educates the top Liberal Arts students in the country.

Full Description

Winning essays will receive a certificate from the program along with one of the following cash award prizes:

  • First place $1500
  • Second Place $1000
  • Third Place $500
  • Honorable mention #1 $250
  • Honorable mention #2 $250

Who's eligible?

The eligibility criteria that each interested student has to meet and what the winners must fulfill are the following:

  • Only sophomores and juniors currently enrolled in a public or private high school in Texas are eligible to apply
  • Winning students must submit documentation from their high schools showing their enrollment status
  • Each student is allowed only one entry in the competition per year
  • Essay forms must be fully completed using the link above for submission to be valid for the competition
  • Entrants must agree to allow their essays to be published on the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Essay Competition website and in other materials
  • Winners must agree to submit and allow brief biographical information to be posted on the Dedman Distinguished Scholars Essay Competition website and in other materials
  • Winners will be required to create a UT EID and submit a payment address with the University.

How to Apply

We are offering you some guidelines related to the essay that each applicant is required to submit.

It has to be an original work of the applicant, and copied essays will be rejected.

You are supposed to write about a time in your life when an authority figure or someone you admired showed a lack of integrity and how you responded.

The essay itself is limited to 4,000 characters, which is about 750-800 words.

You are required to submit personal information and your essay using the form at the official website.

The selected judges will review all the submitted essays and score them based on the following criteria:

  • Adherence to the prompt
  • Originality and creativity
  • Grammar and mechanics
  • Organization and presentation
  • Ability to inspire and evoke emotion
Official Website
Liberal Arts Scholarships Texas Scholarship

Related Scholarships