Knight Essay Scholarship

The Seattle Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invites all high school students (9th through 12th grades) interested in the American Revolution to participate in the George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest. The contest is open to all US Citizen and Legal Resident students attending home schools, public, parochial, or private high schools in that same grade range. The National Association of Secondary School Principals has placed this program on the 2017-18 NASSP List of Approved Contests, Programs, and Activities for Students.

To participate, students must submit an original 800 to 1,200-word essay based on an event, person, philosophy or ideal associated with the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, or the framing of the United States Constitution. Each student’s essay will be judged based upon its historical accuracy, clarity, organization, grammar and spelling, and documentation.

The contest is conducted in three phases: the local chapter, state-level society, and national phases. The contest must be entered through an SAR chapter near the student’s residence. In some cases, the contest may be entered at the state level (if the local society does not have chapters or the chapters are not participating) and a contact-at-large should be used to find out more contest details. Only one entry per student is permitted per contest year.

A complete set of rules, along with the application for both the applicant and the sponsoring SAR members, can be found below, or at SAR.org. Please be aware that the local application deadline dates may vary, so interested applicants should reach out to their local SAR member for further details.

2021 Chapter Winner
2021 2nd Place State Winner

Elizabeth Kanzler
Shorewood High School

Elizabeth's winning essay
Hercules Mulligan: More Than a Tailor

2020 Chapter Winner

Jichai Ngawacha
Mountlake Terrace High School

Jichai's winning essay
George Washington: Hero of the American Revolution