The My Crossword Maker Scholarship Committee was delighted to receive so many top quality puzzles for this year’s scholarship competition. High school and college students from all over North America submitted hundreds of puzzles, making this year’s  My Crossword Maker Scholarship competition  particularly tough!

We received clever and well-crafted puzzles on every theme, from musical theater, film, English literature, and marching band, to mathematics, baking, and computer science. 

Making a crossword puzzle is not as easy as you might think. Between the clever wordplay and grid layout of the submissions, it is clear that the best is yet to come for these young cruciverbalists. Although we received many brilliant submissions, we could only choose one winner. We hope you enjoy checking out and solving all of these puzzles as much as we did.

The winner of the 2023 My Crossword Maker Scholarship is:

Winner: Tobias Rocha, Animal Crossings

Tobias Rocha rounds out his highschool career as the winner of the 2023 My Crossword Maker Scholarship. Apart from being an avid cruciverbalist and the winner of this year’s competition, Tobias will be graduating as the class of 2023’s valedictorian at Pioneer High School. He will continue his academic success in the fall at University of California-Davis, where he plans to study political science and Russian. Congratulations, Tobias!

2023 Crossword Scholarship Finalists

Because we received a great number of deserving puzzle submissions, we would like to recognize our finalists for their well crafted puzzles. To award their effort and achievement, all finalists receive life-time subscriptions to My Crossword Maker, so that they can continue to make unlimited online crossword puzzles that they can share with friends or even submit to newspapers.

Saloni Rao: More Treble Than It’s Worth

Now a finalist for the My Crossword Maker Scholarship two years in a row, Saloni Rao has honed her cruciverbalist skills, blowing us away once again in her music themed puzzle More Treble Than It’s Worth. After studying at a community college for a couple of years, in the fall she will start at Purchase College at the State University of New York, where she will pursue her passion for music, studying Studio Composition.

Rose Kosciuszek: The Sound of Music

Graduating high school senior, Rose Kosciuszek, created her puzzle The Sound of Music, based on her passion for music and the arts. In addition to playing clarinet and piano, she also enjoys acting and musical theater. This fall, Rose will head off to Yale University, where she plans to study Political Science.

Elle Tanjuakio: It’s a Piece of Cake

A self-described “Yerd (Yearbook Nerd) and drama kid”, Elle stays quite active behind the scenes in her school clubs and activities. Elle enjoys building community and connecting with her peers through her love of baking, which she highlighted in the theme of her puzzle, It’s a Piece of Cake. In the fall, Elle will head off to the University of California-Irvine, where she plans to study Mathematics.

Congratulations to our winner and all finalists! Thank you to all applicants for their entries. Next year’s contest will be announced in early 2024.

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Inspired by these talented students?
Try making your own crossword today:

Make a Crossword!

Need help getting started? Read our crossword creation guide for tips on how to make your own professional and newspaper-style crosswords, as well as where to submit crossword puzzles for publication.

Good luck!