Reading has been the fastest and most productive way of assimilating knowledge for many years. Today, our reading culture has been deflated and individuals and organizations have tried to revive them. The Penguin Publishers organize the Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest each year to help celebrate their book collections.

This year, they’ll be celebrating their 23rd edition which is a testament of their progress in the past two decades.

In this article, you’ll learn about the Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest, the application process and eligibility requirements.

About the Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

Each year, Penguin Publishers holds an annual essay contest to celebrate its wide selection of books in the Signet Classics collection. This year, the 23rd Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest 2023 requires high school juniors or seniors to write an essay about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Applicants are to select one of the following five topics:

1. Huck and Jim are the novel’s protagonists, but can they also be called heroes? What qualities do they possess that make them such? How do they prove themselves through their actions?
2. The dialect used in the book, particularly the racial slurs, has long been controversial. How does the use of dialect add to or take away from the book as a work of literature? Give examples.
3. How does Huck’s attitude toward Jim change throughout the novel? Discuss some incidents that illustrate the evolution of their relationship.
4. Huck begins with enormous disadvantages. He is orphaned and abused, often homeless, and poorly educated. What personality traits, skills, and talents help him to rise above his circumstances?
5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned from a number of schools across the nation. Critics cite the immoral behaviour of the characters and racism as reasons to keep the book away from students. What are your reactions to these criticisms? What arguments can you give against banning the book?

Level/Field of Study

This scholarship is open to 11th and 12th-grade high school students.

Host Nationality

Penguin Publishers, a Penguin Random House LLC, USA division, host the Signet Classics Student Scholarship Contest.

Eligible Nationality

This Signet Scholarship 2023 is open to citizens and residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia.

Scholarship Worth

Five (5) grand prize winners will each receive the following:

• A one-thousand-dollar cheque ($1,000) to cover tuition and expenses related to their degree.
• A Signet Classics Library for the winner’s school library or a public library in the case of a home-schooled winner. (Grand Prize Approximate Retail Value: $2,600)

Eligibility 

The Signet Scholarship is open to full-time students in grades 11 and 12 who study at high schools in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia, or home-schooled students aged 16-18 residents of the USA and the District of Columbia.

However, it is void where the law prohibits. Also, all national and local restrictions apply.

How to Apply

Matriculated Students:

An English teacher must send four (4) copies of the essay on behalf of the student (each English teacher may only send one junior essay and one senior essay). Each of the four (4) copies of the essay must include a cover letter on the school’s letterhead and the following details:

• Date
• Full name of the student, grade, address, email address, and home phone number
• Name of the school
• The name, email, and daytime telephone number of the English teacher sending the essay (please include summer contact information if different from the school year contact information).
• Name, email and phone number during the day of the head of the school administration
• Selected topic (#1, #2, #3, #4 or #5)
• Certification by the teacher that the essay is the student’s original work.

Essays sent without a cover letter on school letterhead or cover letters that do not include the above information will be disqualified.

Home Schooling Students:

A parent or legal guardian must send on behalf of the student four (4) copies of the essay. Each of the four (4) copies of the essay must include a cover letter on the parent/legal guardian’s letterhead stating that the student is receiving home education and including the following details:

• Date
• Student’s full name, address, email address and home phone number.
• An equivalent degree of the student
• Name and phone number during the day and email of the parent sponsor/Legal guardian
• Selected topic (#1, #2, #3, #4 or #5)
• Certification of parent/legal guardian of the home-schooled student that the essay is the student’s original work.

Essays sent without a cover letter on the parent’s or guardian’s letterhead or cover letters that do not contain the above information will be disqualified.

Note: Essays must be at least two and no more than three double-spaced pages, computer or typewritten (please do not staple submissions).

Entries must be mailed to Penguin Publishing Group, Academic Marketing Department, Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest #23, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Application Deadline

This contest has been permanently discontinued. For more information on the Signet Scholarship, Visit the website.

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