April 30, 2027
IWSH Scholarship Essay Contest
Direct application
Up to $2,000
4 winners
Eligibility
Education level
High school
Year of study
Final year
About this scholarship
High school seniors and full-time college or trade students may enter the IWSH World Plumbing Day Essay Contest on clean water and sanitation topics.
Prizes include a first-place award of up to $2,000 and three additional awards of $1,000 each. Essays must be 800 to 1,600 original words addressing the assigned topic. International students are eligible.
The contest encourages discussion of how professionally installed plumbing systems protect public health. The top four essays are selected by the scholarship committee.
Essay question
What else to submit
- Original essay of 800 to 1,600 words
- Completed Personal Information Form
- Current full-time schedule, transcript, or acceptance letter
- Letter of support from a teacher, counselor, or school representative
- Sources and citations (minimum three sources)
- Essay must be no fewer than 800 words and no more than 1,600 words (cover page, footnotes, references, and citation page do not count toward the word count)
- Essay topic changes annually; the verbatim prompt above is the 2025 topic — the 2026 contest is now closed and the 2027 topic will be announced in Spring 2027
- Original essay only; committee may run it through an AI detector and/or plagiarism scan
- Must include a minimum of three sources cited
- Typed, double-spaced, 12-point Arial or Times New Roman, one-inch margins, MLA 8th ed. formatting
- Must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format — other formats not considered
- Completed Personal Information Form required
- Copy of current full-time schedule, school transcripts, or acceptance letter required
- Letter of support from a teacher, counselor, or school representative on official letterhead or via school email
- Current picture (for winners, publication purposes)
- Eligibility: current high school senior, or full-time (12 credit hours) student at an accredited technical/community/trade school, apprentice program, or four-year college/university; international st
- One essay per student
- One essay per student.
- Essay must use the annual assigned topic; the listed clean-water prompt was the 2025 topic.
- Essay formatting and Microsoft Word submission requirements apply.
- International students are eligible.