Pen an Application to Scholarships for Poets, Writers
Whether you're an aspiring poet looking to fund your writing degree or an inspired biology major with an extracurricular knack for spoken word performance, there are scholarship selection committees waiting to enjoy your poetry, prose and other creative works. Look into the following college scholarships for something that matches your particular style.
The Poetry Foundation sponsors the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships. Five awards of $25,800 each will be awarded to young poets between the ages of 21 and 31.
To apply, you must submit 10 pages of poetry along with a 250-word introduction to your work. The deadline to apply is coming up on April 30 , so start working on your submissions now.
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The Live Poets Society of N.J. publishes the magazine Just Poetry, and grants small awards of $100 to $500 to high school poets for outstanding poetry submissions. This scholarship is great for young writers, because it comes with the opportunity to be published. You may even submit a new poem every 90 days, giving you plenty of opportunities to be selected and allowing you to fearlessly express your creativity without the pressure of getting it right the first time.
Poetry Out Loud sponsors a national spoken poetry competition, where high school students compete for a $20,000 national scholarship and varying smaller awards at the state level. Students and teachers work together to start their own local competition, then nominate a student to represent their school at the state finals. State winners advance to the national finals, held in April in Washington, D.C.
State competitions are well underway for 2014, but it's not too early to start planning for your local school competition, which may start with the new school year in September. Participating schools must complete an application by November and then select their student representative by January.
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Pennsylvania's Ursinus College offers the unique Creative Writing Award in honor of J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye," for seniors in high school who stand out for their "quirky brilliance ." The selected student will have the honor of inhabiting Salinger's dorm room at Ursinus College in addition to a $30,000 per year scholarship.
To apply, you may submit up to 10 pages of creative writing along with a short, simple entry form indicating whether you have applied for admission to Ursinus College.
Elsewhere, Michigan State University offers the Ambrose D. Pattullo Endowed Scholarship in Poetry, for undergraduate and graduate students in the English department with an interest in studying, writing or teaching poetry. If you're an undergrad, you'll need a 3.0 GPA to apply. Graduate students must have a 3.5 GPA. The deadline for this year's award has passed, but interested students should mark it down for next year.
If you're still making decisions about where to go to college, consider applying for the University of Wisconsin--Madison's First Wave Program . This program offers scholarships valued up to full tuition for students dedicated to growing creatively and contributing to the spoken word and hip-hop scene in Madison. First Wave students receive guidance in a personalized academic track that incorporates career development with artistic expression.
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When it comes to these scholarships, the hard part will be deciding what written pieces you should submit. Most poetry and creative writing scholarships require written submissions that demonstrate your style and abilities.
Building a portfolio of your work will be crucial in applying for poetry scholarships and will also benefit you in the future by demonstrating your writing skills to potential schools or employers. So start writing now if you don't have a portfolio ready just yet. It's never too late to let your creativity materialize and help you snag a scholarship.
Angela Frisk holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota--Twin Cities and is a former scholarship recipient. She joined Scholarship America in 2012.
