Virginia B. Ball Creative-writing Scholarship / How To Apply (full-tuition)
Submissions for the Virginia B. Ball Creative-writing Scholarship Competition For the 2025-26 school year, which is anchored on the Interlochen Center for the arts, is now open. Students who submit their portfolio are considered for the Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition Scholarship, a full-tuition award to study Creative Writing at Interlochen Arts Academy. Previous scholarship recipients have gone on to earn degrees from Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and the University of Michigan. They have won or been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Norman Mailer Award for Fiction, the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize, Juxtaprose’s Short Fiction Contest, Wigleaf’s Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions, and the Pushcart Prize. Their published works have appeared in various notable publications, including Driftwood Press, Black Warrior Review, Kudzu House Quarterly, Broadly, Entropy, and more.
Eligibility For The Virginia Ball Creative-writing Scholarship Competition
All students in grades 8-11 during the 2024-2025 school year are eligible to apply. However, students currently enrolled at Interlochen Arts Academy are ineligible for this contest.
Requirements for The Virginia Ball Creative-writing Scholarship Competition
Video Introduction:
- Applicants, please record a short video introduction (2-5 minutes) showcasing who you are as an artist. Share your artistic journey, including:
– Relevant classes or lessons
– Artistic accomplishments
– Awards received
– Groups participated in
– Meaningful artistic experiences
– Any additional information about your artistic background
Portfolio Guidelines:
- Applicants should submit a portfolio containing 5-7 samples of original work written or revised within the last year. The portfolio should:
- Not exceed 4,000 words or 20 pages
- Represent at least two of the following genres:
– Poetry
– Fiction
– Screenwriting
– Playwriting
– Hybrid genre
You might need to hire an editor
- Type samples in standard format and font
- Double-spaced for prose and single-spaced for poetry (unless intentionally formatted otherwise)
- Submit sample as a PDF file (preferred)
- Include spoken word samples as standard audio or video files, accompanied by written work (if applicable)
Benefits
Full-tuition scholarship
Deadline: Apply by 11:59p.m ET, 15 November, 2024.
For more information, contact karyna.mcglynn@interlochen.org
