The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest

The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest Logo

Basic Information

Administrator: Education Coordinator, The Bird Dog Foundation, Inc.
Scholarship Sponsor: The Bird Dog Foundation, Michael R. Tuxon Education Fund
Address: 505 W Hwy 57, Grand Junction, TN 38039
Phone Number: (731) 764-2058
Fax Number: (731) 764-3004

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The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest
The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest
The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest
The Bird Dog Foundation College Scholarship Essay Contest

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Additional Information

Amount of Scholarship: $1,500.00 for First Place & $1,000.00 for Second Place
Number of Awards: Two (2)
Available to Class Level: High School Senior Level only
Requirements: Must be a U.S. Citizen and a resident of the State of either Tennessee, Arkansas or Mississippi. Also must NOT be an employee or related to a current employee of the Bird Dog Foundation, Inc. Must be a high school senior to submit an essay for the contest.
Eligibility: Must be a high school senior to submit an essay for the contest and adhere to the contest rules.
Minimum GPA: none required
Minimum ACT: none required
Minimum SAT: none required
Due Date: By midnight of April 15th of each year
Purpose of Award: To encourage students to broaden their understanding of conservation, sporting dogs, nature, wildlife, etc. and to enhance their writing skills on these same topics as outlined in our contest rules.
Duration: The Awards are sent to the winning student's accredited schools upon verification of theri enrollment and the awards are applied towards the first semester's tuition.
Renewable: not renewable.
Need-based Scholarship: Based upon skills in writing the essay.
Applicaiton Online: By April 15th of each year for each high school senior.
Application Fees: There are NO fees or charges to enter the contest.
Scholarship History: The Bird Dog Foundation has been sponsoring the annual College Scholarship Essay Contest since 1991 and has granted awards towards the winning student's college tuition since that time. From the inception of the Bird Dog Foundation, it was determined that the organization should have an educational component to help involve young people in natural resources and our sporting dog heritage. More than a decade ago, a supporter made a generous gift to the Foundation with stipulations that it be used for college scholarships for deserving high school seniors in Hardeman and Fayette Counties in Tennessee. An essay contest was developed to determine an annual winner. The first awards were for the relatively small sum of $300. The scholarship fund was named the Michael R. Tuxon Education Fund in honor of one of our deceased charter board members from Reno, Nevada. The fund grew and later the award was increased to $500, and then to $1,000. Thanks to generous supporting donors, the award grew to $1,500 in 2006 and a Second Place Award of $1,000 was added in 2007. The target area for the scholarship contest was also expanded in 2006 to make eligible all high school seniors in the tri-state area of Arkansas, MS and TN. To insure objectivity, an outside professional instructor of English and Foreign Languages serves as final judge. The Bank of Fayette County also came on board in 2008 as primary sponsor of the Foundation’s Educational programs and their support helps to organize, advertise and continue funding the program as well. To insure to successful use of the funds, the awards will be made directly to the accredited colleges of the winner’s choices, only upon successful enrollment at the freshman level. There are currently no stipulations on winner’s choices of curriculum. The scholarship presentation is made at a special ceremony each spring here at the Foundation. Efforts are always made to include the honorees’ educators and family, along with local dignitaries and area media.
Testimonials:

"This letter is in reply to the letter you sent me regarding the Essay Contest that I won in Spring of 2005. I have been extremely grateful to have received the Scholarship. Obviously, college is expensive, and the money I received was used for my education. This helped lighten the load on me and my parents. I also became knowledgeable of the Birddog Museum and the wonderful resource that we are fortunate enough to house right here in Hardeman County". ...T.R. , 2005 Contest winner

Additional Information:

 

The Michael R. Tuxon Scholarship Award History
 
 From the inception of the Bird Dog Foundation, it was determined that the organization should have an educational component to help involve young people in natural resources and our sporting dog heritage. More than a decade ago, a supporter made a generous gift to the Foundation with stipulations that it be used for college scholarships for deserving high school seniors in Hardeman and Fayette Counties in Tennessee. An essay contest was developed to determine an annual winner. The first awards were for the relatively small sum of $300.
 
The scholarship fund was named the Michael R. Tuxon Education Fund in honor of one of our deceased charter board members from Reno, Nevada. The fund grew and later the award was increased to $500, and then to $1,000. Thanks to generous supporting donors, the award grew to $1,500 in 2006 and a Second Place Award of $1,000 was added in 2007. The target area for the scholarship contest was also expanded in 2006 to make eligible all high school seniors in the tri-state area of Arkansas, MS and TN. To insure objectivity, an outside professional instructor of English and Foreign Languages serves as final judge. The Bank of Fayette County also came on board  in 2008 as primary sponsor of the Foundation’s Educational programs and their support helps to organize, advertise and continue funding the program as well.
 
To insure to successful use of the funds, the awards will be made directly to the accredited colleges of the winner’s choices, only upon successful enrollment at the freshman level. There are currently no stipulations on winner’s choices of curriculum. The scholarship presentation is made at a special ceremony each spring here at the Foundation. Efforts are always made to include the honorees’ educators and family, along with local dignitaries and area media.