THE DEVIL’S
ADVOCATE SCHOLARSHIP 2024

About

The mission of The Satanic Temple (TST) is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits. Our efforts have involved championing religious pluralism, protecting free-thought, and ensuring the fundamental rights of our members are protected.

TST is proud to host the fourth annual Devil’s Advocate Scholarship, which awards students who champion individualism, free thought, empathy, and other noble aspects of TST's mission to better society. We also have expanded our submission categories to encompass a wide variety of learners.

THE DEVIL’S
ADVOCATE SCHOLARSHIP 2024

2024 SUBMISSION PROMPTS

United States District Court Judge Angel Kelley ignored Boston’s discrimination against TST when the city refused to allow TST to participate in a public forum. Judge Kelley even refused to allow TST to depose Mayor Michelle Wu, who endorsed this discrimination and even paid her political supporters with public funds when they delivered invocations before city meetings.

ESSAY

While politicians can be voted out of office for their misbehavior, what steps do you think should be taken to curtail judicial corruption?

(Responses should be between 200 and 350 words.)

IMAGE

Create a meme or artwork related to the judicial and/or political corruption in Boston.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

A submission to the prompt may take any creative form that the applicant desires, such as a written submission or an audio/visual submission. The following are examples of submission media, although this is not an exhaustive list.

  • Written: essays, poems, short stories, open letters
  • Audio/Visual: drawings, paintings, short films, songs

Rules

  • Written works should not exceed 500 words in length.
  • Film projects and recordings should not exceed 3 minutes in length.
  • A high-quality photo of any physical art piece will be accepted.
  • Only one submission per applicant will be accepted.
  • All work must be original and the sole creation of the person submitting. No elements can be taken from another source unless the source content is fair use.
  • By submitting your entry, you grant TST the non-exclusive right in perpetuity to display your work anonymously online or in any other forum that may be viewed by the public.

ELIGIBILITY

  • With certain tax restraints that the IRS places on nonprofit scholarship programs, all applicants must be permanent residents of the United States.
  • One does not have to be a member of TST to apply.
  • Award winners must submit a W-9 form. Failure to provide one by email within 30 days of being notified that you have won will mean a reduction in the scholarship award to $500.

DATES FOR SUBMISSION

Applications for this scholarship will be accepted from July 31, 2024, at 12 AM EDT until August 31, 2024, at 11:59 PM EDT. Applications submitted after this specified date will not be considered.

WINNING SUBMISSIONS

One applicant from each age category will be chosen. In other words, TST will be awarding three scholarships in total. Winners will be chosen by TST’s Scholarship Committee. Each winner will be awarded $666.

One does not have to be a TST member in order to apply for this scholarship. Applicants will only be judged on how their submission exemplifies the TST’s mission and the prompt they were asked to answer.

Winners will be announced by the end of September, 2024. While TST will do its best to protect the anonymity of every applicant, any and all submissions may, at TST’s discretion, be published on TST's website, TST’s social media accounts, TST’s press releases, and any other medium published by TST directly or indirectly.

The link to the "Start My Application" button will be available on this webpage starting July 31, 2024.

CONTACT US

The Satanic Temple
64 Bridge St.
Salem, MA 01970
scholarship@thesatanictemple.com

If you need further information, only emails will be accepted.
Questions about eligibility will not be considered. See above for eligibility requirements.