Dharma Jagruthi Foundation presents the ‘Dharma for Young Minds’ Essay Writing Competition to interested students in middle school, high school, and colleges. DJF is an esteemed non-profit organization that aims to impart moral principles, deep thinking, foster curiosity, inculcate capacity to reason, develop technical knowledge, promote life skills, and help develop attitudes that promote tolerance, patience, accommodation, peaceful coexistence, and world peace. 

We would like to extend this opportunity to kids across the United States to write an essay from the heart that speaks about Dharma, attributes of dharma relevant to current day to day life and and more. 

Please see the dates below to register for this competition.

Timeline/Deadlines

• Registration is open now
• Registration will close on October 11th
• Essay topics can be found here.
• All essays will be due October 20th @ 11:59 PM

Winners will be announced on the website on October 31st, and prizes will be mailed out soon after.

Link to Registration Form: www.tinyurl.com/djfessay

Evaluation Judges: TBD

FAQs

Who is eligible to compete?

• Kids in middle school, high school, and college are welcome to compete in this event.

Do I have to live in Texas to compete?

• No, we are taking essays from all over the USA. The only requirement is that they meet the minimum word count and that they are written in English!

How will I submit the essay?

• Once you have turned in your registration information to be a participant in this event, we will email you a Google form with the essay topics and the submission instructions. Look out for the email; it will be sent out on October 1st.

What will my essay be about?

• We will release the essay topics on October 1st at 8 am. However, we will hint that the topics are related to Hinduism and Hindu festivals.

Is there a prize?

• Yes ! We have cash money of over $3000+ to be won !
• Yes! We are awarding 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes for each category of students. 
• Each winner will get a cash prize and an opportunity for their essay to be published at the forefront of our website.

Minimal applications for each category ?

• Yes! We need at least 20 contestants for each prize and about 60 for each category.
• The organizing committee will decide on the prize money in case of less applications than the minimum count.

How much money is involved?

• Middle School: 1st place ($251), 2nd place ($108), and 3rd place ($51)
• High School: 1st place ($501), 2nd place ($251), and 3rd place ($108)
• College: 1st place ($1008), 2nd place ($501), and 3rd place ($251)

How will I receive my prize if I win and don’t live in Texas?

• We will post the names of the winners on the website on October 31st. If you are a winner and don’t live in Texas, we will reach out to you through the contact information that you provided to us about further details regarding prize money.

Is September 27th a hard registration deadline?

• Due to the amount of planning involved in this event, September 27th is a hard deadline for registration. If you are interested in participating in this event, don’t hesitate to register as soon as possible. We will NOT be accepting any late registrations.

Is there a fee to register?

• Registration and participation in this event is free. There is no fee involved in participating in this event.

What happens if I use AI to write this essay?

• We have a complex AI and plagiarizing checker that goes through your essay multiple times to detect any words that aren’t your own. If any major AI or paraphrasing is detected, your essay will be disqualified from the competition and you will receive an email notifying you of this case.

What if I have other questions?

• Please reach out to [email protected] for any and all questions.

Other Benefits:

• The best selected essay will feature on our website and will get a special sound byte interview recorded on our social media.
• All participants will receive certificate of participation from the organization.

Evaluation Judges:

• The judges for essay evaluation will be renowned professors, academicians social-workers, entrepreneurs from reputed fields.
• List of the judges will be shared on the website.