Do you find yourself daydreaming about fictional characters, imaginative landscapes and complex storylines while in class? Have you discovered there’s a more exciting world in your mind than the one you live in day after day? Have you begun daydreaming since reading this article? Well if so, that can either mean I need to do a better job at grabbing my readers, or you simply have a very imaginative mind (hopefully it’s the latter). How about focusing all that scattered reverie into story format and submitting it into a creative writing scholarship? It’s all about letting your mind run wild and having fun producing quality work you think should receive some sort of recognition (preferably monetary recognition). If this describes you, below are a few creative writing scholarships that want to award minds like yours!
Writers of the Future Contest
If you love the art of storytelling and have aspirations of becoming an author, the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest can award you a decent amount of cash if you’re willing to do a little bit of work. They offer an annual $5,000 reward for the best short stories, and they hand out prizes every three months for first, second and third place winners with the top prize earning $1,000 and subsequent places receiving $250 less. Granted, it won’t cover the entire cost of tuition, but it can cover books, school supplies and technological gizmos you can use to play Angry Birds during boring lectures!
J.D. Salinger Award
Could you use $30,000 per year to cover all your college expenses? Who am I kidding, of course you could! Well, the J.D. Salinger Award recognizes creative writers with exceptional talent planning to attend Ursinus College, the same college that the author of Catcher of the Rye (the one this award is named after) received schooling, by awarding them a full-ride to this institution. Not only will this scholarship reward students with great writing potential $30,000 per year, but will allow the recipient to reside in the same dorm the author of the book lived in during his time at the college. Simply visit the website, fill out a creative writing application and submit no less (or no more, overachievers) than 10 double-spaced pages of original creative writing.
Writers Digest Scholarships
Writers Digest offers eleven competitive writing contests for those who could use $3,000 cash money for school. They have different categories like horror, young adult fiction, thriller, sci-fi, crime and romance. They also have a category where you take whatever prompt they give you in whatever direction you wish; it’s an open-ended short story contest. If you’re more the lyrical type, there’s a Poetry Awards Competition with a $500 top prize. And if you feel like traveling, Writers Digest holds an annual mega-huge-super-official Short Story Writing Competition with first place receiving $3,000, a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference and your name proudly displayed in the magazine (just give me the cash, right?). So get your creative writing thinking cap on (and any other clothing material designated specifically for creative writing) and write to your hearts content! Just a heads up, they do require you pay an entry fee when submitting work, but you can submit as often as you like, so have at it!
Put Your Short Story on the Big Screen
If you love writing but are also interested in film (since the two are connected storytelling mediums), there are many film scholarships available to those who just enjoy getting a good story out. You could either pursue a film scholarship yourself, or connect with like-minded individuals and split the winnings. A good director knows the importance a story has when trying to make a movie, so if you’re a creative writer, hooking up with a prospective film student could either produce a long-term working relationship or a sworn enemy you vow never to work with again. Hey, you never know if you don’t try right? Either way, getting your hands dirty in the name of creativity could earn you a tuition payment so be creative!
Related Posts
Advice for College of Fine Arts Students
