Middle School students may not know where they want to go to college or what they want to study, but thinking about paying for college can be intimidating for their parents. Below are scholarships and contests for students in middle school. 

Apprentice Ecologist Initiative Youth Scholarship Program
Sponsor: Nicodemus Wilderness Project
Amount: Varies
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarships are open to students between the ages of 13 and 21 who are candidates for a degree/diploma at a primary (middle school), secondary (high school), or accredited post-secondary educational institution from any country around the world. Applicant must conduct their own environmental stewardship project.

Freethought Day High School Video Scholarship
Sponsor: California Freethought Day
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to United States high school and college students. Applicant must create a PSA-style video responding to the following prompt: “Information Literacy.”

Make Me Laugh Scholarship
Sponsor: Unigo
Amount: $1,500.00
Closing Date: August 31, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 14 years of age or older who are legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Applicant must share an incident in their life, funny or embarrassing (fact or fiction) that will make us laugh.

Candace Freeland Photography of Merit Award
Sponsor: The Mitford Museum & Discovery Center
Amount: Up to $750
Closing Date: September 1, 2026
Description: Award is open to U.S. photographers aged 8-22. Photographers are invited to submit black-and-white and color photos captured on a cell phone, based on the theme Food and Family.

Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award
Sponsor: From the Top
Amount: Up to $10,000
Closing Date: September 1, 2026
Description: Award is open to classical instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers between the ages of 8 and 18 who have not yet entered college during the 2026-2027 academic year. This is the first deadline. Deadline II is November 9, 2026.

Youth Free Expression Film Contest: Documenting Our Democracy
Sponsor: National Coalition Against Censorship
Amount: Up to $1,000
Closing Date: September 9, 2026
Description: Contest is open to individuals living in the U.S. or its territories (but need not be citizens) who will be age 19 or younger on the day the film is submitted. Contestant must create a three minute film on this year’s theme: “Documenting Our Democracy.”

Breakthrough Junior Challenge
Sponsor: Breakthrough Prize Foundation
Amount: Up to $250,000
Closing Date: September 15, 2026
Description: Competition is open to students between the ages of 13 and 18 years of age. Applicant must explain a big scientific idea in physics, life sciences or mathematics with a short video two minutes maximum).

No Sweat Scholarship
Sponsor: Cirkled In
Amount: $2,500.00
Closing Date: September 30, 2026
Description: Scholarship is open to students 13 years of age or older who are legal residents of the United States or the District of Columbia. Applicant must create a free Circkled in account.

Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award
Sponsor: From the Top
Amount: Up to $10,000
Closing Date: November 9, 2026
Description: Award is open to classical instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers between the ages of 8 and 18 who have not yet entered college during the 2026-2027 academic year.

Fields of Corn Photo Contest
Sponsor: National Corn Growers Association
Amount: Up to $500
Closing Date: November 17, 2026
Description: Contest is open to legal residents of the United States. Applicant must submit a photo that helps tell the story of farming field corn in America.

Tommy Tranchin Award
Sponsor: The Dallas Foundation
Amount: Up to $3,000
Closing Date: December 31, 2026
Description: Award is open to North Texas students in grades 8-12 who have a physical, emotional, or intellectual disability.

Paradigm Challenge
Sponsor: Project Paradigm
Amount: Up to $100,000
Closing Date: May 1, 2027
Description: Challenge is open to students aged 4 to 18 years of age worldwide. Applicants may work in a team or alone to use kindness, creativity, and collaboration to help solve real-life problems.