Dear Prize Applicant:

Below is the application for the 2026 AATF-CT Tom Betts Senior Prize. Please read the following directions carefully with your French teacher. 

Before you start: Nominating teachers must be active/paid members of the AATF-CT for calendar year 2026. Please confirm this with your teacher, who can check their membership status in their Member Compass at www.frenchteachers.com/login.

You will need at least 1-2 hours to complete the entire application.

After completing this form, be sure to email to info@aatfct.org (with the student's full name in the email subject line and body) scanned copies (or a clear photo) of:

1. A writing sample in French, done as a class assignment from this academic year or last year that has been graded by a French teacher. All personally identifiable information should be blacked out with an indelible marker before being scanned and submitted.  This is so that judges are unbiased when they determine finalists.

2. An unofficial (student) copy of your high school transcript. All personally identifiable information should be blacked out with an indelible marker before being scanned and submitted.   This is so that judges are unbiased when they determine finalists.

The prize committee will consider only those applications that use this year’s form and that are accurate and complete.

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This year, the AATF-CT offers the AATF-CT Tom Betts Senior Prize in the amount of $750 to one high school senior. Each teacher who is a member of AATF-CT may nominate one high school senior currently studying French, who does not come from a home where French is the primary spoken language, and who has not lived or studied in a French-speaking country for more than eight weeks.  

In order to be considered for this prize, all applications must be complete and submitted by Sunday, MARCH 1.

A panel of French teacher judges will review applications and determine finalists. Finalists will be interviewed in French (via Zoom) on Sunday, March 22. Please reserve this date for an interview in the afternoon or early evening.  

Final prize notification will be made by during the week of March 23, 2026.  Note that judges do not see applicants’ personal information when determining who will be a finalist.

Please email Jon Shee at info@aatfct.org with any questions.