Winners of the 2015 Clean Air Choice Biodiesel Essay Scholarship have been announced. The American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest in Minnesota says Brianna Bredeson, a recent graduate of Willmar Senior High School, is the first place recipient of the 2015 Clean Air Choice Biodiesel Essay Scholarship, winning a $1,000 scholarship.

“Biodiesel is a much more efficient, healthy and renewable option to become less dependent on foreign oil as a fuel source,” she wrote in her winning essay. “It also creates more jobs and keeps the American economy growing.” See her entire essay .

The second place winner is Sydney Benson of Burnsville. A recent graduate of Apple Valley High School, Benson wrote “…there are numerous benefits to using biodiesel, as opposed to petroleum diesel, within Minnesota and the rest of the world.” Benson will receive a $500 scholarship for her essay.

There were more than 100 submissions to the contest, which is sponsored by the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and administered by the American Lung Association in Minnesota.