Science Essay Contest: High School

Entry Guidelines

• The SACP High School Essay Contest is open to all students in grades 10 through 12 in our 8 state region, which includes PA, WV, OH, VA, DE, MD, NY and NJ.
• All information requested on the entry form must be included.
• The essay should have no more than 2500 characters. The essay is to be in prose (no poetry please), and be the independent work of the student. Any essay containing plagiarized material will result in rejection of the essay.
• To be fair to all contestants, the use of artificial intelligence software, including ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or similar tools, is not permitted. Any essay found to contain AI-generated material will result in rejection of the essay.
• Student essays must be submitted by a faculty member of the student’s school.
• No individual school may submit more than two essays in the high school contest.
• Failure to comply with these instructions may result in a scoring penalty or rejection of the essay.

Essay Topics:

Select ONE topic for submission. Cite all references in MLA format. 

1) What is the concept of climate resilience? Discuss the different approaches that are being explored to build resilience against climate change.

2) Green chemistry focuses on reducing or eliminating hazardous substances. Explain the advances made in the field, provide examples of how it has impacted a variety of industries, and the challenges that continue to be faced.

Awards

1st Place: $300
2nd Place: $200
3rd Place: $100
Honorable Mentions (10 each): $50

Thank you for your interest! Submissions are closed until August 2025.