Call for Entries! 2024 Smith Publicity Book Marketing Scholarship

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Write a Persuasive Essay and Enter to Win Our 2024 Scholarship

We’re delighted to call for entries for the 2024 Smith Publicity Book Marketing Scholarship. The submission period will be open from March 5 to May 15, 2024.

The 2024 Essay Prompt*:

Write a persuasive essay between 1,000-1,500 words in response to the prompt: “What contemporary book (any genre published between 2014-2024) should be required reading for all high school students? Why? What did you take away from the book and how did it change the way you see the world?”

Our Smith Publicity Scholarship for Book Marketing began in 2013 and is awarded to one undergraduate college/university student or high school senior in the United States. To enter, you must write an original, compelling 1,000-1,500-word essay demonstrating persuasive writing and include a cover letter listing your name, school, graduation year, book title, and book publication day.

You can submit your entry using this link, or visit our scholarship page.

*Essays will be submitted to an AI checker and any found to be written with the help of AI will be immediately disqualified.

Persuasive Writing is the Foundation of Book Publicity

The scholarship competition’s essay prompt and requirement of a persuasive essay align with the work our book publicists do every day. Our PR pros become virtuosos at persuasive writing as they market books and pitch them to the media. As a result, our team will review and judge the essay submissions based on the quality of the writing and persuasion.

Our President, Marissa Eigenbrood, reminds PR and marketing students that writing persuasively is essential in our business. The other dimension of the scholarship contest’s prompt requiring entrants to recommend a book also connects to our work and interests. As book marketing professionals, we’re always interested in hearing about people’s “must-reads.”

Smith Publicity Gives Back to the Book PR Industry

Together with our free-to-attend book marketing webinar series and informational blog articles on numerous PR topics, the annual scholarship competition is a way to give back to our industry. Our CEO Sandy Poirier Smith points out we’re delighted to offer the annual scholarship to one dedicated student as a small part of supporting their pursuit of higher education.

Since our founding by Dan Smith in 1997, we’ve dedicated ourselves to advancing the art and science of promoting high-quality books. Our team has pioneered many publicity techniques in wide use today, and each year we expand our methods. Ensuring our clients’ books breakthrough in a crowded marketplace and reach their target readers is the essence of our work.