Since 1997, the AFSA Scholarship Fund has supported Merit Awards for high school seniors. This page details the 2026 judging procedures and scoring process for AFSA’s Academic and Art Merit Awards and Community Service Awards.

1. General Information on Judges
2. Panels
3. Academic Merit Criteria
4. Selecting Academic Merit Winners
5. Art Merit Scoring
6. Community Service Award Scoring
7. Feedback

I. General Information on Judges

Approximately forty AFSA members participate as judges (30 for Academic Merit, five for Community Service, and five for Art Merit). Judges include members of the AFSA Scholarship Committee and AFSA member volunteers appointed by the Scholarship Committee. To help with continuity of scoring, each year AFSA has both returning and new judges. All judges attend a Merit Awards judge orientation session each year to learn/review the scoring process. Judges will not be placed on a panel for any category their children are currently applying for AFSA scholarships.

II. Panels

Typically, 150 to 200 students apply for AFSA Merit Awards each year. Academic Merit applications are divided randomly between four to six panels depending on the number of applications. In addition, there is typically one panel for Community Service applicants and one panel for Art Merit applicants. Each judging panel is comprised of approximately five judges.

III. Academic Merit Criteria

There are seven criteria (unweighted GPA, high school activities, any awards won, two-page essay, one letter of recommendation, rigor of courses taken while in high school, and special circumstances, if any) on which the students are judged; not all criteria are weighed equally. Each year, the Scholarship Committee reviews the weight/points assigned to each criterion and tweaks the system, if need be. Please note that because many colleges no longer require standardized test scores, AFSA does not require standardized test scores for its Academic Merit Award application. In the 2026 program the points are as follows:

GPA

AFSA uses unweighted GPA’s on a 4.0 scale. For students whose school(s) use a different point system, they will be provided a tool with instructions to convert their cumulative, unweighted GPA to a 4.0 scale.

Rigor of Courses Taken

The typical AFSA Academic Merit applicant has taken a number of higher level classes and AFSA needs a way to recognize such accomplishments. Students are awarded points based on the rigor of the advanced, honors, AP and IB courses they take, especially in their sophomore, junior and senior years of high school.

Any Awards Won/Honors Bestowed

The student will be awarded points for national, regional, state, local or any other academic honors bestowed or awards won.

Extracurricular Activities

With the “activities” score, the judges look at the following activities: academic activities, sports activities, other extra-curricular activities/employment, volunteer activities, etc. Judges give points for evidence of sustained effort, real achievement in one or more fields, social/character-building/intellectual value of activities, and leadership.

Essay

Students write a 500-word essay on the following topic: “Describe the most significant experience you’ve had during your adolescence and/or childhood in the Foreign Service. Share how it impacted you and what you learned from the experience.” Judges score on following directions, grammar, essay structure, and thoughtfulness in addressing the prompt. (12-point font, double-spaced.)

Letters of Recommendation

In the “letters of recommendation” category, students input the email of their desired recommender into the application. Then, the application portal emails that person with a link which takes them to the application site where they can upload their letter of recommendation. Parents cannot submit a letter of recommendation for their child.

Special Circumstances

Under the “special circumstances” area, points are allotted for conditions/circumstances which have affected the student’s life in their high school years. This may be circumstances such as post evacuation, a disability, a traumatic illness, rigorous high school the student has attended, chronic health problem, divorce or death in the immediate family, numerous high school transfers, etc.

IV. Selecting Academic Merit Winners

In 2026, AFSA will award 44 Academic Merit scholarships. The Academic Merit applications are divided randomly between the five-person panels of volunteers (approx. 20-25 applicants per panel). After the students are individually scored by each judge, the judges’ scores for each student are then averaged and the panel convenes to finalize winners of some of the academic merit awards. (Exact number varies year-to-year based on number of panels and awards available.) They will refer the next highest scoring positions and their candidate for best essay to the AFSA Scholarship Committee. The Committee then meets to select the remaining winners from the recommended candidates and to select the best essay winner and two essay honorable mentions.

V. Art Merit Scoring

In 2026, AFSA will award seven Art Merit scholarships. The Art Merit scoring follows the same general format of the Academic Merit scoring. GPA is not factored into the Art Merit scoring, (and only used to verify a 2.75 GPA for eligbility). The Art Merit panel judges individually review each student's application and submitted art. Then the judging panel meets as a group to review their scores. The scoring criteria used in 2026 will be:

VI. Community Service Award Scoring

In 2025, AFSA will award seven Community Service scholarships. Judges on the Community Service panel review the applicants’ resume and up to three 400-word reflections describing an activity, their role, and why it was important. They consider the duration of the activity, longevity of the activity, leadership level the student has taken in the activity, level of interaction with any recipient(s), and impact on student.

VII. Feedback

After the scoring is finished, all judges are asked to complete an evaluation of the Merit Award competition and make suggestions on how to improve the program. Since 2011, AFSA has also surveyed merit applicants for their feedback. Each year, the AFSA Scholarship Committee reviews and tweaks the application process and scoring system based on input from the merit judges and applicants. The AFSA Scholarship Committee welcomes suggestions on how to improve this competition.

Contact Us!

• Please email scholar@afsa.org.