$1500 Scholarship for Those Who Care
An important announcement!
We’re happy to inform you that we’ve finished counting the votes for the $1,500 Nature-Saving Scholarship for Students.
It’s been a wild ride, and we had such a great time checking out all of the entries that you submitted. So, first of all, we’d like to give a big thank you to everyone who participated.
It was kind of difficult to choose the winning works, too. The absolute majority of the submissions were very inspiring, creative, and interesting to read. But we did manage to pick the best of the best.
Fun fact: readers who placed their votes mostly preferred longer works. Which means that the voters got deeply involved and paid a great deal of attention to detail.
But enough chatting. We all know why we’re here. It’s time to announce the winners!
Together, our two winners collected almost 80% of all votes placed.
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks again to everyone who submitted their work!
The Nature-Saving Rules contest is open: small text but big step in nature conservancy
Thousands of watersheds, parks, trails, and forests are suffering from environmental issues. But guess what? Today you have a unique chance to help nature conservancy without ever leaving your house—and you may even win an award! We are excited to give you the opportunity to win a $1,000 or $500 scholarship using only your writing skills. Twice a year, we hold a competition to award the best writers who support a responsible approach to outdoor activities!
WHAT WE STRIVE FOR
Hikers often negatively impact the surrounding environment without even knowing it by transporting invasive species, disturbing wildlife, leaving waste, etc.
We’re inspired by the Leave No Trace principles and want to encourage every backpacker to follow these rules.
The Hike & Cycle Scholarship is all about raising environmental awareness among youth by giving them a solid incentive in the form of a scholarship. What we are trying to achieve here is to make more people understand that the environment is in dire need of their attention and help.
PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS
- You must be currently enrolled in high school, university, or college. Applications from all countries are accepted.
- You must create an original list of nature-saving rules (according to the requirements listed below).
- The winners will be required to send us proof of their educational status.
REASONS TO APPLY
- The first place winner will get $1,000 and the second place, $500. Note: each participant may send in only one submission and win only one award.
- We use student-generated content to write articles and make infographics on various topics concerning the environment. Your contribution will help raise awareness among people reading our blog posts!
- The best authors can count on their writing being published on our blog. Naturally, that means our readers will see your name!
- Winners will receive individual certificates from HikeAndCycle.com.
PARTICIPATION RULES
- The Nature-Saving Rules of Responsible Camping
- How Hikers Can Make Sure That They Don’t Hurt Wildlife
- Recommendations for Responsible Behavior Near Bodies of Water
You’re free to focus on a specific outdoor activity (climbing, cycling, kayaking, etc.) or write more generally.
2. Make up a creative, catchy title that reflects your ideas.
3. Share the scholarship post on social media using Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. The links to the shared post must be sent along with your application.
4. Send your list and all necessary links to [email protected].
By sending us your application, you confirm that you understand the rules of participation and that you are willing to accept the decision of the judges.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
- Your work must be structured in the form of a list and must be directly connected to one of the three given topics.
- Your list must:
- Be written in English
- Include five to ten rules
- Be no longer than 400 words
- Be 100% plagiarism-free (see details at Wikipedia.org)
- Have a file name of “Nature_Scholarship_First Name_Last Name”
- Be sent in .doc or .docx format
- Be submitted within the deadline
Note that submission starts on November 1, 2017, and ends at midnight EST on March 11, 2018.
- Your list must be shared on social media.
If you have some unorthodox or groundbreaking ideas, you should definitely give this contest a try! We encourage all participants to show their creative side.
Although the preferred number of rules on the list is five to ten, four or even eleven rules may be accepted. But only if the rules are good enough to deserve it!
HOW WE EVALUATE YOUR WORK
We have a special panel of skillful writers and editors with significant experience in hiking, camping, and various outdoor activities. These judges will evaluate your work based on these requirements:
- Usefulness. Make sure that your advice can be practically implemented and is helpful. (40 points)
- Originality. The more daring and unorthodox your ideas are, the greater your chances of winning! (30 points)
- Clarity. Your work should get straight to the point without unnecessary digressions. (30 points)
CHOOSING THE WINNER ONLINE
On April 2, 2018, HikeAndCycle.com will publish the seven most outstanding lists, and from there, our online audience will be the judge. What’s the mechanism for voting? It’s simple: the writer with most shares of his or her post on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ will have higher chances of winning! Our support team will make sure that cheating is not possible. On April 20, 2018, we will count the shares.
To determine the final scholarship winners, we will take into consideration the results of online voting as well as the opinion of our esteemed experts.
AWARDS
On April 27, 2018, HikeAndCycle.com will publish the list of winners. Once proof of enrollment has been provided, the two winners will receive their awards. If the winner does not provide that proof, the award will be given to another suitable participant.