Scholarship
AFSA National High School Essay Contest
American Foreign Service Association (AFSA)
Award
$2,500
Deadline
~Mar 1, 2026
Estimated; confirm on sponsor site
The AFSA National High School Essay Contest, sponsored by the American Foreign Service Association, invites U.S. students in grades 9-12 to write an essay on a current U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy topic. The first-place winner receives $2,500, an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a Semester at Sea scholarship; the runner-up receives $1,250 and a National Student Leadership Conference scholarship.
Eligibility
- Grade levels
- High school freshman, High school sophomore, High school junior, High school senior
- Citizenship
- U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Fields of study
- Social sciences, Communications
- Essay
- Required
Application requirements
- Complete the online registration form: All fields are mandatory and the registration form must include a teacher or sponsor name.
- Write a 1,000-1,500 word essay on the assigned foreign policy topic: Word count excludes the source list. Essay must argue one of two specified positions on the current year's topic.
- Support the essay with at least three primary sources and a bibliography: Sources should include academic journals, news magazines, newspapers, books, government documents, and research publications; general encyclopedias (e.g. Wikipedia) are not acceptable.
- Format the essay per contest guidelines: Double-spaced, 12-point font, one-inch margins, following MLA Handbook style with a bibliography; do not include the student's or school's name on the essay pages.
- Upload the essay as a Word document via the official submission portal by the deadline: Submit at afsascholarships.communityforce.com by March 1 at 11:59 p.m. EDT; late submissions are automatically disqualified.
Verified Jul 8, 2026 · View official source