Essay Contest Rules

1. Eligibility: This contest is open to high school students (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior) residing in the United States. To avoid any conflicts of interest and comply with non-profit regulations, no immediate family members of the Selection Committee, organization staff, or board members are eligible to participate or win a prize.

$10,000 in total prizes: First Place: $5000, Second Place $3000, Third Place $2000.

All entries must be received by 11:59 PM PST on Sept 8, 2026.

Winners announced on or before Oct 8, 2026

2. The Official Essay Prompt:

Seek out a meaningful conversation with someone whose background, culture, generation, beliefs, or point of view is very different from your own. In your essay, explore what surprised you, what assumptions were challenged, and how your thinking shifted, deepened, or stayed the same. What did you come to understand about how people’s cultural backgrounds and experiences shape the way they see the world?

Before you apply, we strongly recommend completing our free 20-minute "Cross Cultural Toolkit" designed specifically for this scholarship.

The Toolkit walks you through how to have a meaningful conversation, how to ask better questions and how to handle disagreement without shutting down.The strongest essays will usually come from students who have completed the toolkit and used these skills in order to process, question, and integrate a new perspective.

3. CRITICAL REMINDER: You MUST take a photo to verify your interview! To verify that your interview took place, you must take a photograph during your conversation. If your interview is in person, take a clear selfie of you and your interviewee together. If your interview is remote, you must use a video platform (such as Zoom, FaceTime, or Google Meet) and take a screenshot showing both of your faces on the screen. Voice-only phone calls are not permitted for this contest because they cannot provide photographic proof. You will be required to submit this photo. If you cannot produce it, you will be disqualified. If the judges determine the photograph has been edited or fabricated, the entry will be immediately disqualified from prize consideration

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy: All submissions must be entirely the human author's original creation. The use of generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or similar software) to draft, write, or synthesize the essay is strictly prohibited. While students may use standard spelling and grammar-check features within word processors, any essay determined by the Selection Committee to contain AI-generated text will be immediately disqualified.

5. How to Enter, Submission Format, and Judging

STEP ONE: Here is the essay contest application form.

THE LINK IS PENDING. CHECK BACK MID MAY 2026

STEP TWO: Interview someone different than you. Make sure to take photo of the two of you during the in-person or zoom interview. Then write your essay and submit it.

The essay must be uploaded to the online form as a Word Document and must not exceed 1,000 words.

Blind Judging: To ensure complete fairness and objective, skill-based grading, all essays will be judged blindly based on Content, Originality, and Writing Style. Therefore, the student's name and contact information must ONLY be entered into the fields on the online entry form, and must NOT appear anywhere on the uploaded essay document itself. Entries that include the student's name on the essay document, or that do not follow all formatting rules, will be disqualified.

To maintain fairness and transparency at a national scale, all submissions will undergo a structured, blind scoring process. Our panel of judges—comprising community leaders, educators, and communication experts—will evaluate each essay based on its depth of reflection rather than its agreement with the interviewee. Judges will score essays highly if they avoid simply summarizing the conversation and instead "zoom in" on one specific, meaningful moment. The primary criteria will focus on how well the student explores what surprised them, what assumptions were challenged, and how they clearly demonstrate how their thinking shifted, deepened, or stayed the same. A winning essay must show how the student authentically processed, questioned, and integrated a new perspective. In the event of a tie, the tied essays will be submitted to a secondary review by our executive panel, ensuring that our selection process remains rigorous and fair.

5. Prizes, Prize Claim, and Tax Responsibilities

Prizes: One (1) First Place winner will receive $5,000. Second Place , $3000 and Third Place, $2000.
Taxes: We are thrilled to award scholarships to our top essayists! Please note that prizes awarded in a promotional contest are subject to personal income tax in the U.S., and it is the individual winner's responsibility to pay taxes on the fair market value of their prize. Because federal law requires sponsors to file a 1099-MISC form for any prize valued over $2,000, the parent or legal guardian of the winning student will be required to submit a completed IRS Form W-9 and a signed Declaration of Eligibility before the prize funds can be disbursed. An IRS Form 1099-MISC will be issued for the tax year the prize is awarded.

7. Originality and Publication Rights: By entering, the student and their parent/legal guardian certify that the essay is the student's original, unpublished work and does not violate or infringe upon the copyright of any other person or entity. Entrants agree that they will not submit the essay to any other publication or contest without prior written consent from Forge2gether. By submitting an essay, the student and their legal guardian grant Forge2gether a royalty-free, perpetual license to use, reproduce, edit, post, display, and publish the essay in any media (including print and online) for promotional purposes without further compensation.

8. Release of Liability : By participating, entrants and their parents/legal guardians agree to release and hold Forge2gether harmless from any claims, demands, liabilities, suits, or expenses related to the contest, the use of the essay, or the acceptance and use of the prize.

9. Deadlines and Administration: All entries must be received by 11:59 PM PST on Sept 8, 2026. Top 20 Finalists will be notified via email on or around Sept 27, 2026 and will have 7 days to submit their signed consent materials. The three final winners will be announced on Oct 8, 2026. Forge2gether reserves the right to disqualify any entry that violates these rules. Furthermore, Forge2gether reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the contest if unforeseen circumstances or technical failures compromise the integrity or fairness of the competition