Sterling Scholar Awards: Information

The Sterling Scholar Awards are open to Utah public high school seniors. It is expected that each school will nominate one candidate in each of the 13 categories. Each school may nominate only one student in each of 13 categories. (A school must fill at least 10 of the 13 categories.) A student may be nominated in only one category. PLEASE NOTE: The selection process and nomination of students as Sterling Scholar nominees is left entirely up to each high school.

Sterling Scholar officials consider a student a high school senior if he/she will be graduating with the senior class in 2011.

High school seniors who attend college classes full or part-time or are classified as foreign exchange students are eligible for the Sterling Scholar Awards. However, the program is designed to recognize scholastic achievement in Utah public high schools. To be selected a Sterling Scholar nominee, students must have extraordinary scholarship scores as well as service in leadership and community service/citizenship opportunities at their Utah public high school. It is up to each public high school to determine if an individual has been in attendance enough to experience these leadership and community service/citizenship opportunities.

Qualifications

Selection of winners and runners-up will be made on the basis of Scholarship, Leadership and Community Service/Citizenship as demonstrated through activity and interest in an area of high school education characterized by one of the program's categories.

Each Sterling Scholar nominee's entire school experience will be considered, although emphasis will be placed on the high school years. High school officials are urged to nominate scholars for categories in which the students are genuinely interested and qualified.

The general measurement will be defined and applied in this manner:

A. SCHOLARSHIP (50 POINTS). Scholarship consists of two sections: Overall Scholarship and Category Scholarship. A students overall GPA, difficulty of class schedule, standardized test scores such as ACT, class ranking and similar scholarship items attained during high school will be used to establish 25 points for Overall Scholarship. The other 25 point section is Category Scholarship, which emphasizes the nominee's ability and talent in their specific category. While judges will seek evidence of growth and service in all activities, the nominee's talent and aptitude towards their category will receive particular emphasis.