Creative Writing Scholarships and Prizes

Interiors of Allen Library
Artwork in Allen Library is from the "Raven Brings Light to this House of Stories" exhibit by Mare Blocker, Carl Chew, Ron Hilbert Coy, and J.T. Stewart

The prizes and scholarships below are awarded by the UW Seattle English Department’s Creative Writing Program. Winners will be notified by the end of Spring Quarter. 

Prizes will be awarded at the end of Spring Quarter. Scholarships will be paid out in the following academic year. During the term of the scholarship, recipients must enroll in a minimum of 6 credits.

The application deadline for these awards is the last day of Winter Quarter (March 15, 2024) at 5pm Pacific Time, unless otherwise indicated.

Requirements

Unless stated otherwise in the Contest Description, eligibility requirements for the prizes below are the following:

  • Either a UW Seattle English major enrolled as an undergraduate for two quarters by the application deadline, OR a UW Seattle English Graduate student enrolled in the MFA program in Creative Writing
  • UW GPA of 3.5
  • UW English GPA of 3.7
  • Have a minimum of 10 credits of UW English course work completed by the end of Winter Quarter. 

Application Process

  • Fill out the Creative Writing Scholarships and Prizes application:
    • The Creative Writing Contests deadline for 2024 has passed. Please check back in early 2025 for next year's contests applications.
  • Remove your name and/or student number from the file containing your prose or poetry submission, as these are read anonymously.
  • Prose and poetry submissions will be considered for all contests students are eligible:
    • For prose contests, submit: 2-3 short stories, works of creative nonfiction, or a novel excerpt (up to 30 pages/9,000 words). If you are excerpting from a longer work, please provide a synopsis of the whole. 
    • For poetry contests, submit up to 100 total lines of poetry, and no more than 10 poems.

For more information, please contact: cwriting@uw.edu

Contests

Scholarship and prize information described below. 

Undergraduate Contests

Prose - Undergraduates

Edith K Draham Scholarship - $6,000 (one undergraduate winner per year) - Applicant must be a full-time sophomore or junior English Major at the time of application, and be eligible for need-based financial aid.  

Stephanie Dassel Barden Scholarship in Creative Writing - $3000 (one undergraduate winner per year)

Eugene Van Buren Prize for Fiction - $3,000 (one undergraduate winner per year) - OPEN THROUGH NOMINATION BY CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY ONLY.  Open to all currently enrolled University of Washington Seattle students. Nominated students will be notified by the Creative Writing Program by email.

Charlotte Paul Reese Fiction Award - $2,400 (one undergraduate winner per year) - OPEN THROUGH NOMINATION BY CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY ONLY.  Currently enrolled English majors who are Sophomores or Juniors are eligible. Nominated students will be notified by the Creative Writing Program by email.

Poetry - Undergraduates

Edith K Draham Scholarship - $6,000 (one undergraduate winner per year) - Applicant must be a full-time Sophomore or Junior English Major at the time of application, and be eligible for need-based financial aid.  

Stephanie Dassel Barden Endowed Scholarship in Creative Writing - $3000 (one undergraduate winner per year)

Arthur Oberg Award for Poetry - $2,000 (one $2000 winner or two $1000 undergraduate winners per year) - Applicant must have completed a beginning (ENGL 283) or intermediate (ENGL 383) poetry writing class in the 12 months preceding the contest deadline.

Joan Grayston Poetry Prize - $1,500 (one undergraduate winner per year)

Academy of American Poets Prize - $100 (one winner per year) - Open to all currently enrolled graduate or undergraduate students at the University of Washington Seattle. This prize is awarded for the best poem or group of poems. More information on this contest is available on the Academy of American Poets website.

 

Graduate Contests

Prose - Graduates

Eugene Van Buren Prize for Fiction - $3,000 (one graduate winner per year) - OPEN THROUGH NOMINATION BY CREATIVE WRITING FACULTY ONLY.  Open to all currently enrolled University of Washington Seattle students. Nominated students will be notified by the Creative Writing Program by email.

David Guterson Award - $1,500 (one graduate winner per year) - Must be an MFA prose writer completing their degree. Applicants should submit a draft of their MFA Creative Thesis. 

Nelson Bentley MFA Award in Creative Writing (Prose) - $1,500 (one graduate winner per year) - Must be an MFA student completing their first year in the program at the time of application.

Poetry - Graduates

Joan Grayston Poetry Prize - $1,500 (one graduate winner per year)

Nelson Bentley MFA Award in Creative Writing (Poetry) - $1,500 (one graduate winner per year) - Must be an MFA student completing their first year in the program at the time of application.

Academy of American Poets Prize - $100 (one winner per year) - Open to all currently enrolled graduate or undergraduate students at the University of Washington Seattle.  This prize is awarded for the best poem or group of poems.  More information on this contest is available on the Academy of American Poets website.

 

 

Other Scholarship Sources:

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