For the fourteenth consecutive year, the Albert Wisner Public Library (AWPL) Foundation is offering college scholarships to be awarded in a writing competition. Applicants can submit an essay, not to exceed 2,000 words in length, on the following topic: Indicate a character in a fictional book or an actual historical figure who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
Submissions will be judged on the basis of responsiveness to the topic, overall literacy and grammatical accuracy, and other criteria as the judges think appropriate. Authors of the three essays judged to be the best of those submitted will each receive $1,000 toward the cost of college tuition, paid directly to their college.
Any high school senior who resides in the Warwick Valley Central School District and expects to graduate in 2020 is welcome to participate, regardless of where he/she attends school – home-schooled students included.
Please note the following firm guidelines: Essay must not include any details that reveal the writer’s identity. The judges consider all essays without knowing the writer; essay is due on Mon., Apr. 13 by 8 p.m. at the Library. Late essays will not be judged; bring six printed copies of the essay to the front desk at the Library. Essays placed in the outside book drop, in the Library’s U.S. mail box or emailed to the Library will not be judged, and scholarship recipients will need to provide their college student I.D. number once assigned.
The three scholarships will be awarded in May by Foundation members Glenn P. Dickes and Susan D. Dickes, who have sponsored two scholarships since the competition’s inception in 2007, and by Carol Hope Arber, who added a third award in 2012.
