First- and second-place winners have been announced for the 2015 Clean Air Choice Biodiesel Essay Scholarship. Brianna Bredeson, a recent graduate of Willmar Senior High School, won first place for her essay.

“Biodiesel is diversifying our fuel supplies and it is limiting our exposure to unstable global oil markets that weaken our economy and national security,” Bredeson wrote in her winning essay. “There needs to be a better national movement as far as marketing this renewable product and everybody needs to do their part in trying to promote it on the local and individual level.”

As first-place winner, Bredeson will receive a $1,000 scholarship, which she will use at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. The scholarship is sponsored by the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and administered by the American Lung Association in Minnesota.

The second-place winner is Sydney Benson of Burnsville, Minnesota. Benson is a recent graduate of Apple Valley High School.

“Biodiesel is an underappreciated fuel source,” Benson wrote in her essay. “As the search for a sustainable energy source continues, biodiesel can certainly be seen as an option and will be utilized more when more people become aware of its advantages.”

For winning second place, Benson was awarded a $500 scholarship, which she will use to attend the University of St. Thomas.

The contest is open to all Minnesota high school seniors. This year more than 100 submissions were received.