If you have a blog, you may
make (or hope to make) money from it. You’re probably imagining that
you’ll get your income from advertisements, but did you know that
your blog could actually win you a hefty amount of scholarship money
for college?
CollegeScholarships.org has
an annual scholarship that began in 2006 and is awarded
to one college student who also maintains a blog, much like the one
you are reading right now. If you are the winning blogger, you will
win $10,000 to put toward college books, tuition, or even living costs.
Smaller prizes are awarded to several runners-up.
Here’s how it works: You
submit an essay about your blog that is 300 words or less. Then, a panel
of judges narrows the entrants down to 10 finalists, and the winner
is selected through public online voting. To win, you must be currently
enrolled in post-secondary education. You also must have a unique and
interesting blog about you or things you are passionate about – no
spam blogs allowed!
What should your essay be about?
It’s up to you, but you should write it like you would a blog post
– short, sweet, and informative. Sample topics provided by CollegeScholarships.org
include:
- What powerful social
change you have seen come out of blogging
- The most inspiring
blog post you’ve ever read
- What blogging means
to you
- Why you started
blogging
This year’s application deadline
passed in October, but because this scholarship is offered every year,
you should work on developing your blog now so you will be in a prime
spot to win next year! It’s never too early to be thinking about
how you will pay for your college education.
If you don’t have a blog
yet, you should get started now. You can use a free service such as
Wordpress, LiveJournal, or Blogger. Happy writing!