Essay Prompt, Requirements, Eligibility, and Awards
FFRF has four essay student essay contests — covering high school through graduate students — that offer the same scholarship prizes (see below). There are contests for college-bound high school seniors, ongoing college students, BIPOC students and graduate students (or students ages 25-30). Scroll to read topics, prompts, eligibility and other requirements for each of these essays. Our law school competition (scroll to end) has a different deadline and set of prizes.
First Place Prize: $3,500
Second Place Award: $3,000
Third Place Award: $2,500
Fourth Place Award: $2,000
Fifth Place Award: $1,500
Sixth Place Award: $1,000
Seventh Place Award: $750
Eighth Place Award: $500
Ninth Place Award: $400
Tenth Place Award: $300
Optional Honorable Mention(s): $200
All eligible entrants are offered a full one-year complimentary student membership, which includes a digital version of 10 issues of Freethought Today, FFRF's newspaper (publishes winning student essays), and a complimentary book or premium.
SUBMISSION RULES: Please fill out online submission form and attach essay. The essay must be double-spaced, standard margins, font size of 11 to 14 point, and attached as a PDF. Your name and the name of your essay must be included on every page. Pages must be numbered. Indicate word length at end of the essay. Please choose your own title, do not use the topic of the essay as the title. Do not attach a resume with your essay. FFRF monitors for plagiarism and A.I. (e.g., ChatGPT, etc.). If an entry is found to involve either, it will be disqualified and FFRF will bar entrant from future FFRF essay competitions, or take other warranted action.
AGREEMENT: By entering the competition, you agree to permit your name and winning essay to be printed in full or in part in "Freethought Today," FFRF's newspaper; announced in a news release, and posted online at FFRF's website. You also agree, if you win an award, to promptly provide FFRF with a photograph of yourself suitable for reproduction with your winning essay.
BANISH MANGLISH: FFRF encourages you to please use inclusive language, rather than language that presumes everyone is male. For example, try "humanity" or "humankind," rather than "mankind."
2023 WILLIAM J. SCHULZ MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST FOR FREETHINKING COLLEGE-BOUND HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS
THIS YEAR'S TOPIC: “Why I’m Proudly a Gen Z ‘None’”
PROMPT: At least 48 percent of Gen Z identifies as religiously unaffiliated, with 17 percent identifying specifically as atheist or agnostic. You are part of the least religious generation in U.S. history! Describe your experiences growing up or becoming a “None,” explain why you reject religion, and how the growth of the unaffiliated in the United States is a positive development for progress. https://religioninpublic.blog/2022/06/15/gen-z-and-religion-in-2021/
WORD LENGTH: 350-500 words
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all high school seniors who graduate in spring 2023, who will be attending a North American college or university in fall 2023. If you took a "gap year," please fill out question 9. Note: If you fit this profile and if you are Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color, you may enter this contest, or you may enter FFRF's David Hudak Memorial Contest for Black, Indigenous and Students of Color. However, you may not enter both contests.
REQUIREMENTS: Winners may be asked to send verification of student enrollment. Students will be disqualified if they do not follow instructions, including word limit and deadline. Students are required to submit their essay via the online application, and should carefully review all contest rules.
DEADLINE: Fill out the application and submit your essay no later than 11:59 pm, June 1, 2023. Winners will be notified no later than September 2023.
2023 DAVID HUDAK MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST FOR FREETHINKING BLACK, INDIGENOUS AND STUDENTS OF COLOR
THIS YEAR'S TOPIC: "Glad to be godless"
PROMPT: Please write a first-person essay explaining your personal journey to becoming a nonbeliever (or about your experiences as a lifelong nonbeliever), including any challenges you’ve faced and why you’re “glad to be godless.” Discuss the personal advantage to individuals to be free from religion. You may wish to analyze how the use of reason over faith can also be an advantage for BIPOC communities and for social policies.
WORD LIMIT: 350-500 words.
ELIGIBILITY: Open only to Black, Indigenous and Students of Color ages 17-21, who are either high school seniors graduating in spring 2023 who will be attending a North American college or university in fall 2023, or who are currently enrolled in a North American college or university. If you will be graduating from college in the spring or summer 2023, you remain eligible to enter this contest. This contest is offered to provide support and acknowledgment for freethinking Black, Indigenous and Students of Color, as a minority within a minority. People of Color refers to all racial groups that are not white. Specifically, any person who is not considered white, including African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans and others. FFRF offers other essay contests open to all students in your age group. Students may only enter one FFRF contest annually.
REQUIREMENTS: Winners may be asked to send verification of student enrollment. Students will be disqualified if they do not follow instructions, including word limit and deadline.
DEADLINE: Fill out application and submit your essay no later than 11:59pm, June 1, 2023. Winners will be notified no later than September 2023.
2023 KENNETH L. PROULX MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST FOR FREETHINKING ONGOING COLLEGE STUDENTS
THIS YEAR'S TOPIC: “What I would tell Marjorie Taylor Greene about the harm of Christian nationalism”
PROMPT: Greene became the first member of Congress to identify as a “Christian nationalist,” and has openly urged her party to become the “party of Christian nationalism.” Write a rebuttal of Christian nationalism in the form of a letter addressed to Rep. Greene. Explain why her espousal of Christian nationalism as an elected official is antithetical to secular American principles. Please include at least a brief definition of what Christian nationalism is and how it jeopardizes you as a nonbeliever and other nonbelievers and non-Christians. Please do not write a partisan or political essay, but rather make the case against Christian nationalism.
WORD LENGTH: 450-650 words
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all ongoing undergraduate college students up to age 24 already attending a North American college or university. You remain eligible to enter this contest if you will graduate from college by spring or summer of 2023.
If you're entering college in Fall 2023 for the first time, please enter FFRF's contest for college-bound high school seniors. If you're an undergraduate student age 25 through 30, please enter FFRF's graduate/"older" student essay contest instead. If you're Black, Indigenous or a Student of Color up to age 21, who is currently enrolled in college, you may enter this contest or the David Hudak Essay Contest for Black, Indigenous and Students of Color, but you may not enter both contests. You may only enter one FFRF Essay competition per year.
REQUIREMENTS: Winners may be asked to send verification of student enrollment. Students will be disqualified if they do not follow instructions, including word limit and deadline. FFRF monitors for plagiarism. You may not re-enter this contest if FFRF has previously awarded you for an essay in the college contest, (previously named the Michael Hakeem Memorial contest). If you have previously entered but did not win, you may submit another essay in this contest.
DEADLINE: Fill out application and submit your essay no later than 11:59pm, June 1, 2023. Winners will be notified no later than September 2023.
2023 CORNELIUS VANDER BROEK MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST FOR FREETHINKING GRADUATE/"OLDER" STUDENTS (TO AGE 30)
THIS YEAR'S TOPIC: "Is secularism the 'savior' of American democracy?"
PROMPT: Is the fate of U.S. democracy becoming a face-off between the “Nones” (atheists, agnostics and “nothings in particular”) with their support of secular government, and Christian nationalists? Please include at least a brief definition of what Christian nationalism means. Pick one or two controversies or issues in which Christian nationalists are denying or threatening rights or reforms in America (whether state/church separation, abortion or LGBTQ rights, book banning, voting, vaccination policies, climate change remediation, etc.). Explain how Christian nationalist actions are threatening these rights or reforms (and how you may be personally affected). Then muster your best arguments about how and why the secular movement can take strategic action to defend secular democracy.
WORD LENGTH: 550-750 words
ELIGIBILITY: Open to any graduate students through age 30, or to undergraduate students ages 25-30 who attend a North American college or university. You remain eligible to enter this contest if you will graduate by spring or summer of 2023.
REQUIREMENTS: Winners may be asked to send verification of student enrollment. Students will be disqualified if they do not follow instructions, including word limit and deadline. FFRF monitors for plagiarism. You may not re-enter this contest if FFRF has previously awarded you for an essay in FFRF's Cornelius Vander Broek "Graduate/Older Student" contest, (previously known as the FFRF Brian Bolton "Grad" Essay Contest). If you have previously entered but not won, you may submit another essay in this year's contest.
DEADLINE: Complete application and submit your essay no later than 11:59pm, June 1, 2023.
2023 Diane and Stephen Uhl Essay Competition for Law School Students
This Year's Topic: Write an essay making the strongest argument possible under the current caselaw that a law banning or restricting abortion should be invalidated based on the religious liberty interests of a potential plaintiff.
Prompt: Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, stakeholders have been urgently working to bring what litigation challenges remain to protect and secure reproductive freedom. While FFRF has argued that abortion bans impermissibly codify a particular religious belief—that life begins at conception—in violation of the Establishment Clause, courts have been unwilling to consider that argument as a means for invalidating laws restricting abortion. However, in light of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, there is renewed interest in arguing Free Exercise rights and/or religious rights protected by state versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a means of invalidating such laws and protecting the rights of people who feel their religion compels them to obtain, perform, or facilitate an abortion.
CLOSED: This contest has closed. Winners will be notified by April 15. Thank you to all who participated.