Bernie Sanders State of the Union Essay Contest

Sen. Bernie Sanders' annual State of the Union essay contest is designed to engage Vermont's high school students on the major issues facing the country. Over the past eight years, students from schools throughout Vermont have written essays to the senator about important issues such as the declining middle class, climate change, health care reform and the rising cost of a college education.

At the beginning of 2019, the President of the United States will deliver a "State of the Union" speech to Congress, to report on the state of our country and outline his priorities for the coming year.

Each year, Senator Sanders invites Vermont's high school students to write a 250-500 word essay focusing on what they believe are the major challenges facing our country, and how to solve them.

The essays will be judged by a panel of teachers. Senator Sanders will invite the 20 finalists to a roundtable discussion at the Vermont Statehouse and will enter their essays in the Congressional Record - the official archive of the U.S. Congress.

DEADLINE: Student essays must be submitted by Wednesday, January 9, 2019.

Please fill out the form below and copy and paste your essay in the box provided.

For questions about the contest please call (800) 339-9834

Stephen Phillips Memorial Scholarship 

• The intent of this award is to enable students to attend college without accumulating burdensome debt.

• In most cases, the Phillips Scholarship award ranges from $3,000 to $15,000 yearly.

• The award is renewable for up to four undergraduate years provided a GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale is maintained and financial need does not change substantially.

• All grants will be paid directly to the institution.

• High school seniors entering college and returning college students attending accredited U.S. colleges or universities are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

• Awards may only be used for undergraduate study and are limited to those seeking a first bachelor's degree.

• Awards will only be granted to applicants who are permanent residents of New England: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont; however, recipients may attend college anywhere in the United States.
• The deadline is 12 noon, May 1st, 2019. The application will be available online in January 2019. It is suggested that applicants begin the application as soon as they have received their financial aid package from the college of their choice so that recommenders have ample time to submit their information. As soon as an applicant enters a recommender's information in the application and saves the application, an email is sent directly to the recommender with a link to a personalized recommendation form for the student. Recommender materials are due by May 3rd.