Student Essay Contest Writing Blog

New Contests for 2021 Announced!

We've announced two contests for January and for Winter! We're starting the new year off with two writing contests: one on MLK due...

Looking Ahead to the New Year!

We will be announcing lots of great opportunities for high school humanities scholars coming in 2021! We'll all be glad when 2020 is...

New Premium Content for 2021!

Helping you stay on top of pre-collegiate opportunities for humanities scholars! There's a lot of content on the Internet, but it's a lot...

What To Do Over Winter Break

Relax of course, but get ready for the new year! There are two kinds of Winter Breaks. One where your semester (or trimester or whatever)...

What Kind of Essays Have You Written?

Most school essays can be submitted to one of our categories! Our mission is to encourage and recognize outstanding pre-collegiate...

What Is A Research-Based Essay?

Starting to write like you're in college, like a scholar Sometimes people ask us, what exactly is a "research-based essay"? If you're in...

What is a Critical Essay?

It's where you get to have an opinion, hurray! Critical essays are fun because the purpose is to inform and persuade -- you get to have...

The Palo Alto Scholar Journal of Art + Culture + Innovation + Design for Pre-Collegiate Students Research-Based & Critical Essays & Literary Non-Fiction Published by The Palo Alto Scholars Institute Palo Alto, California USA