GRAND MANAN ISLAND — Now in its second year, The Ocean Awareness Essay Contest is sponsored by the creator of “From the Bow Seat,” a 64-minute environmental documentary about issues confronting the Gulf of Maine. Both the essay contest and the film challenge high school students to explore real-world threats to the marine life of the Gulf of Maine.

Winning essays can earn students $2,500 for first prize, $1,500 for second place and $500 for third place. There also will be 15 honorable mentions awarded. The deadline is June 15.

One student may also win a chance to meet one of the subjects of the essay contest, the North Atlantic right whale, up close and personal.

The Fundy Marine Science Institute has announced that it is donating a week at Whale Camp, a $1,500 value, to one of the students whose essays receive a cash prize or honorable mention. All 18 winners will be entered into a lottery for a scholarship to Whale Camp in the summer of 2014.

Located on stunningly beautiful Grand Manan Island, Whale Camp lies between Maine and Nova Scotia in the Bay of Fundy, where the highest tides in the world create a rich and diverse marine ecosystem. This is the summer feeding grounds of humpbacks, minkes, finbacks and the rarest of great whales, the right whales. Whale Camp participants help collect data to document whale distribution, feeding and other behavior.

Students spend at least three days each week aboard a 65-foot sailboat, where they are all but guaranteed to encounter whales —  the success rate over 28 years is 98 percent — as well as seals, porpoises, sea birds and other marine life. Only Whale Camp takes students to the highly-restricted Machias Seal Island, where they can encounter hundreds of rare puffins, razorbills and murres. They will explore beaches, tidepools, bogs, coastal trails and fishing villages for an amazing marine experience both on land and at sea.

Students do not have to live in the New England region to enter the essay contest. Contest information and essay questions can be found at www.fromthebowseat.org.

Additionally, the high school science department of the first place essayist will receive $2,500. Teachers who expect to have six or more students participate in the essay contest are encouraged to enter their own contest: the chance to win a week at the Island School Teacher Conference in The Bahamas in August 2014.

For more information visit www.fromthebowseat.org/contest/onboard.php and www.whalecamp.com.