Essay Scholarship Contest

High school students who enjoy literature, who are capable of recognizing themes and symbolism, and who have good analytical skills may benefit from an essay scholarship contest. This year the Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay contest announced its twelfth annual essay subject. Signet Classics publishes more than 300 of the classic novels taught by teachers and studied by students, and this year is offering $1,000 scholarships for essays written about the classic novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Juniors and seniors in high school can choose from four topics relating to the novel, for the essay scholarship contest. Students are asked to describe how the details of setting are significant to the theme of the story and to identify the use of symbolism in the setting, as one topic. Another topic would address why the character, Mr. Utterson, is one of the central characters in the book and what it is about his personality that makes his viewpoint so important. The third topic for the essay is to compare and contrast Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll, focusing specifically on their views of ethics in science and their opinion of evil. The fourth topic of the essay scholarship contest is to give three examples from the story that support the following statement which if found in the afterword of the novel:

It is a fragmented, quietly feverish little book - a sneaky book. It proceeds through indirection, doling out sly hints but leaving, for the most part, the sordid facts to the imagination…Perhaps one of the most compelling aspectsf this novel is that, in fact, there's so much left here for us to fill in, so many scenes we can only imagine.

Students must have an English teacher mail in their entry for this essay scholarship contest.