City of Dayton Department of Water & Boonshoft Museum Summer Camp Scholarship Essay Contest

The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and the City of Dayton Department of Water are holding a Summer STEM Camp Essay Contest! Winners will receive a full scholarship to attend a weeklong 2023 Summer STEM Camp at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, with the option of Before and After care.

See below for official rules & procedures. Application deadline is Friday, April 28, 2023. Winners will be contacted after May 1, 2023.

Submission: Essays should be submitted using this online form only. Please upload a Word Document or PDF below.

Deadline: The 2023 Essay Contest Deadline is Friday April 28, 2023. Entries received after Midnight EST on that day will not be considered.

Length: Essays are recommended to be one page in length, but no longer than two pages.

Prompt: What is clean water worth to you?

Eligibility: The contest is open to youth of City of Dayton Department of Water customers. Youth must be between 7-13 years of age by June 1, 2023. Past winners are not eligible to participate.

Original Work: A teacher/parent can provide pre-writing activities and appropriate review, editing, and translation support, but the ideas, content, structure and style of the actual essay MUST come from the youth alone.

Winners: A panel of reviewers selected by the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery will judge entries and will typically award 10 scholarships from two age categories: 7-9 yrs and 10-13 yrs. The Essay Contest Panel makes the final decisions and has the authority to offer more or fewer awards in any given year, including the possibility of selecting no winner in a particular age group.

Prizes: The winners will receive a full scholarship to attend a weeklong summer camp at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, with the option of Before and After care. Details for summer camp registrations are available in the link below. The winners will be contacted by a staff member from the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery for redemption details.

Evaluation Criteria: Essays will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Ideas—Informative with clear focus and supporting details of the topic.
• Organization & Structure—The essay is organized, well-structured, and easy to read.
• Word Choice—Nouns and verbs make essay informative.
• Sentence Fluency—Sentences flow throughout the piece.
• Conventions— Grammatical errors within the essay.

For Summer Camp details click here: Summer Camps – DSNH (boonshoft.org)

 For questions regarding Essay Contest Rules and Procedures contact: [email protected] or 937.275.7431 ext. 125.