To apply, you must: • Be thirteen (13) years of age or older at the time of entry. • Be currently enrolled (or enroll no later than February of 2026 unless deferring on a gap year) in an accredited post-secondary institution of higher learning (college, university or trade school) anywhere in the world. • Have done or is in the progress of proactively doing acts or events consistent with Letters to Strangers' organizational mission statement. This includes choosing to major in a mental health-related field (psychology, psychiatry, social work, etc.) and/or engaging in mental health advocacy/activism on a personal, volunteer level. You will receive additional consideration if you: • are between the ages of 13 and 26, since Letters to Strangers primarily serves the youth demographic • identify as part of an underrepresented demographic in the mental health field • belong to a Letters to Strangers Chapter or partner organization

Unfortunately, you are not eligible to apply for the award at this time (unless you are on an approved gap year). Check back in a few years! :) We love your enthusiasm.

We use "2025/2026 school year" to describe the next academic year, and recognize that the next academic year can start at different times depending on where you are in the world. Therefore, think about when schools typically start a new year in your location (in North America, that's usually around September; in New Zealand, it's around the start of a new calendar year). Use that time frame as your reading of "2025/2026 school year".

Because of the geographic, socioeconomic, sexual/gender, and racial/ethnic imbalances currently present in many countries' mental health fields, if you represent a rural area, come from a low-income background, belong to the LGBTQ+ community, belong to a marginalized minority religious group, and/or are of an ethnic background that historically faced barriers to higher education and employment, you would be considered part of an “underrepresented demographic”. Note that this definition is a bit fluid depending on your country's demographics, so if you would like to clarify your situation to us, feel free to note so on your application.

Applications open: February 17th, 2025 Applications close: April 1st, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time Winner notified: Late April - May 1st, 2025 Scholarship fund must be used within five years or will be forfeited by the winner.

Letters to Strangers will review all applications and send a shortlist to an esteemed panel of judges. The judges will rank all applications based on the following criteria: Impact, Complexity, Wow factor/uniqueness, and Challenge (overcoming adversity). Letters to Strangers will then select the final winner based on the judges’ feedback.

As long as you will matriculate at a post-secondary institution of higher learning and can prove that you are simply deferring your enrollment, yes!

As this award is designed for academic, research, or otherwise personal scholarship purposes (like an individual-based advocacy effort), we will not accept any applications that seek to use this as a grant for external organizations.

Your first choice school. We will confirm your school choice with you should you be a Winner.

Each prize ($3000 USD for one grand prize winner, $1000 USD for one runner-up winner, and $500 for 8 additional finalists) can be used all at once or be divided into installments. Each Winner will receive a check made payable to their school with the corresponding sum (unless otherwise determined that their prize is applicable for use on a personal advocacy project). The Winner will be responsible for ensuring that their school processes the check. The prize money is only for usage on tuition and other school-related fees, unless the winner chooses to use it for a personal project approved by L2S in a timely manner, in which case the check will be made payable to the winner. Note: The prize money will be awarded in USD unless circumstances require a different currency to be used. If so, any amount lost during the currency conversion will not be replaced, though of course we will seek to minimize such losses!

While the Mental Health Warrior Scholarship doesn't require you to have a Google Account, the Mental Health Changemaker Scholarship does. This is because we ask for your resume and school transcript as part of your application, and a Google Account is required to upload materials. You can create a Google Account for free here. If this is not possible, please contact hi@letterstostrangers.org for technical assistance.

Of course! We ask for an unofficial transcript because it often costs money to receive an official transcript from your school, but we will certainly accept official as well as unofficial transcripts.

Don't worry! We understand that many people have other preferred languages, and will take that into consideration when we assess your application. It's okay if your writing isn't the most perfect as long as we can understand what you are trying to convey and the depth and genuineness of your answers.

As long as you were previously a runner-up or finalist but NOT the grand prize winner for this or any other Letters to Strangers scholarship, and you still meet all other eligibility criteria, you are welcome to apply again!

Email clayton@letterstostrangers.org including “Changemaker Scholarship” in the subject line and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

To apply, you must: • Be eighteen (18) years of age or older (or of the legal age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is older) at the time of entry • Have demonstrable difficulty due to finances, location, or other restrictive means to access or utilize professional mental health services. This will be verified upon selection of Winner You will receive additional consideration if you: • Are between the ages of 18 and 26, since Letters to Strangers primarily serves the youth demographic. This means that your entry will be given extra weight in the random drawing. • Belong to a Letters to Strangers Chapter or partner organization.

Applications open: February 17th, 2025 Applications close: April 1st, 2025 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time Winner notified: Late April - May 1st, 2025 The Grand Prize Scholarship fund must be used within five years or will be forfeited by the winner.

The Winners of both the Grand Prize and the Anise Health scholarships will be randomly selected from all eligible Entrants who followed the Terms and Conditions, with bonus weighting in the random draw for those eligible for additional consideration.

GRAND PRIZE: The Grand Prize's $3000 USD prize money can be used all at once or divided into installments. Checks can be made payable to the healthcare provider of the Winner, or the Winner can reimburse mental healthcare-related costs after their expenses have been approved by Letters to Strangers. The prize money is only for usage on mental healthcare-related costs accrued within the six months prior to and five years after the individual has won the scholarship. Note: The prize money will be awarded in USD unless circumstances require a different currency to be used. If so, any amount lost during the currency conversion will not be replaced, though of course we will seek to minimize such losses!

Not for the Mental Health Warrior Scholarship! :)

Letters to Strangers is not a professional mental health service, so we will be unable to decide for you where to spend your prize money should you win this award. However, you are welcome to exchange ideas with us, and should we be able to offer you our thoughts, we will certainly do so.

You are welcome to use your Grand Prize money on teletherapy and other forms of remote/digital healthcare, should you win this award and are interested in that option.

Don't worry! We understand that many people have other preferred languages, and will take that into consideration when we assess your application. It's okay if your writing isn't the most perfect as long as we can understand what you are trying to convey and the depth and genuineness of your answers.

As long as you were previously NOT the grand prize winner for this or any other Letters to Strangers scholarship, and you still meet all other eligibility criteria, you are welcome to apply again!

Email clayton@letterstostrangers.org including “Warrior Scholarship” in the subject line and we will get back to you as soon as possible!