Official Rules
No purchase necessary. The RJMJ Foundation Scholarship is open to any citizen and/or resident of the United States (and its territories and possessions) who will be enrolled at an institution of higher learning full-time for Fall Semester 2017. All other entries will be disqualified.
Interested students are encouraged to apply by sending their essay submission via email to scholarships@rjmjfoundation.org.
When submitting your essay, applicants must include the following information in order to qualify for consideration:
His or her first and last name
Valid email address
Permanent mailing address
Date of birth
Institution to be attended Fall 2017
Area of study
Anticipated college graduation date (month/year)
Name of small business experience is based on
Industry the small business operates within (automotive, finance, childcare, etc.)
Number of employees who work at the small business
***Each finalist will be asked to provide a photo of the applicant with the small business or photo of the applicant that represents the nature of the small business (For voting platform purposes).***
Each student may only submit one entry. If it is determined that a participant has entered with more than one identity, all of the participant’s submissions will be disqualified.
Each student must submit an original essay (1,000 words minimum) about how small business ownership (personal, parent, grandparent, or legal guardian) has shaped you into the person you are today.
The essay must have a title and be written in English. Essays with fewer than 1000 words will be disqualified.
Essays must be original and factually accurate, and they must not be in the public domain. Essays may not infringe upon or violate any personal property rights of others, such as defamation, invasion of privacy, infringement of the intellectual property rights of any third person or other unlawful use of material. The submission of false information will result in automatic disqualification. By submitting an essay, each student acknowledges his or her understanding of and compliance with these rules. RJMJ Foundation reserves the right to disqualify any entry deemed inappropriate for publication per their discretion.
All entries must be received no later than March 31, 2017, to be eligible for the contest.
A panel of judges will review the applications. Essays will be judged on the following criteria:
33 1/3% - effectiveness, insightfulness, creativity and completeness
33 1/3% - organization and development of the ideas expressed, with clear and appropriate examples to support them
33 1/3% - consistency in the use of language, variety in sentence structure and range of vocabulary, use of proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation
The judges will select 10 finalists. The decisions of the judges will be final.
The 10 finalists will be notified via email and can be featured on linked websites and marketing material, including but not limited to RJMJ Foundation, RJMJ Management, Today's Business Solutions.
Winners will each receive a one-time scholarship check of $1,500 to be used for future educational expenses. Winners will be notified via email on June 3, 2017. Winners will later be featured on linked websites for marketing purposes to drive awareness to future scholarship needs.
*A student's likelihood of being chosen as a finalist will depend upon the quality of all other entries as judged by the criteria stated above.In the event of a numerical tie based on votes, the panel of judges will select three winners. Prizes are non-transferable.
Competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Winners will be solely responsible for any federal, state or local taxes. Winners and their parents/legal guardians will be required to execute an affidavit of originality, eligibility and compliance with rules, a release of liability and grant of publication rights within 10 days of the date specified in the notification. Failure to do so will result in the prize being awarded to the finalist with the next highest votes. Winners must provide a valid street address to which RJMJ Foundation can mail the winners their scholarship check, a publicity release, an affidavit of eligibility and complete a W-9 for tax purposes in order to qualify for receipt of the scholarship award in the amount of $1,500.
**All essays and all rights to their publication become the property of RJMJ Foundation, which may use, edit and excerpt these entries for purposes promotional or otherwise, including placing them online without compensation, additional or otherwise. RJMJ Foundation reserves the right to use prizewinners' names and hometowns in any advertising or promotional materials relating to this competition without further notification, permission, or compensation to the winners, except where prohibited by law.
