There is always a lot of confusion about the terms Awards, Scholarships and Prizes. You may also have observed terms like scholarship awards. We will attempt to define these terms as succinctly as possible to draw a clear difference.

AWARD is a general term that embodies several types of financial assistance which could be inform of benefits, financial support, prizes and bursaries. It is therefore not far fetched to indicate that awards could be in the form of scholarships and prizes.

SCHOLARSHIPS are awards in form of a financial aid given to a qualified student  based on certain criteria example athletic or academic ability. It identifies student’s scholastic ability and achievements. Many scholarships are based on a student’s involvements in a competition, athletics, or other student activities, as well as possessing the key personal qualities that are specified in the scholarship award’s description. Scholarships are not necessarily given specifically for financial need.

PRIZES are available and open to all students and there is no specific grade or general criteria that necessarily need to be met to win a prize but each prize has its own criteria based on the donor’s wishes. For example, some prizes are given to the top student of a certain course (e.g. Computer Science).

Feel free to add your definitions for the difference between Awards,Scholarships and Prizes