Student Essay Contest

The annual Scott Wright Student Essay Contest is in honor of Scott Wright (July 27, 1964 - June 08, 2003), past editor of Community College Week, recipient of the 1998 Award for Excellence in Higher Education Journalism, and the reporter who brought national attention to developmental education and the unique mission community colleges possess in providing an accessible education.

Student authors are asked to describe a faculty member, staff member, or administrator who encouraged them to complete a course, finish a semester, or graduate from college and how that encouragement helped them reach their goal(s) in a 500-word (or less) essay. Only students currently enrolled at NISOD member colleges are eligible.

The Prize

Three (3) winning student authors will each receive a $1,000 check.
Each winning student author will receive a complimentary conference registration to the 2021 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence (May 29 – June 1, 2021 in Austin, Texas), a complimentary hotel room (maximum three [3] nights), and up to $400 towards transportation costs to the conference.
The featured faculty members, staff members, or administrators in the winning essays will each receive a $1,000 check, a complimentary conference registration to the 2021 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence (May 29 – June 1, 2021 in Austin, Texas), complimentary hotel room (maximum three [3] nights), and up to $400 towards transportation costs to the conference.
Each winning student author’s college will receive a complimentary 2021-2022 NISOD membership (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022).
The winning student essays will be published on NISOD’s website along with the photos and names of the winning student author, the featured employees, and the winning student authors’ college presidents.

Rubric

Student author submissions are rated on a 60-point scale, where an individual author’s overall rating is the total between six ratings (each a value of 0 through 10) in the following categories:

Content
Originality
Clarity
Organization
Conciseness
Grammar

A rating of 0 is described as “Poor,” 3 as “Below Average,” 5 as “Average,” 7 as “Above Average,” and 10 as “Excellent.”

Timeline

Contest opens: August 21, 2020
Submission deadline: March 12, 2021
Winners notified: March 26, 2021
Winners’ photos due: April 16, 2021
Prize and essay presentations at NISOD conference: May 30, 2021

Past Student Essay Contest Winners

Submission

Please review the Criteria and Terms before submitting your essay.

Visit FAQs or contact Nicole Novelli at Nicole@nisod.org or (512) 471-7545 for more information.
To spread the word about the contest on your campus, please use the flyer below:

Student Essay Contest Flyer