By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

The Carbon High School Sterling Scholars made their final bids for the prestigious award on Monday, April 7. Competing in 14 categories against across Southeastern Utah, the Dinos secured six winners and seven runner-up finishes, securing $22,000 in scholarships.

Started in 1962 by Deseret News Columnist Steven Hale, the Sterling Scholar program recognizes high school seniors’ academic excellence in schools. According to the competition’s website,” The purpose of the Sterling Scholar Awards is to publicly recognize and encourage the pursuit of excellence in scholarship, leadership and citizenship of high school seniors in the state of Utah. The Sterling Scholar Awards program seeks to commend and encourage excellence among all students.”

Starting before the school year, 14 students are nominated in each category to participate in the competition. These students then build a portfolio relating to their respective categories. These portfolios include letters of recommendation, unique qualities, life enrichment essays and leadership and community service activities. 

Carbon High appreciates the scholars in a social media post: “Congrats to all of our participants … you represented our school like champions! Way to go!”

Winners of each category receive a $2,500 scholarship, with runners-up earning a $1,000 scholarship. Many institutions across the state offer additional money for participants, such as Utah State University, which offers a $2000 stipend for two years for any winner attending the school.

Castle Country Radio would like to congratulate these students for their academic accomplishments and thank them for representing Castle Country so well.

Below are the full results for Carbon: