Poetry Scholarships

With poetry scholarships, your creative efforts can result in money for college.

Your poetic writings can help you earn money for college textbooks.

From prizes for a poet's collected work to contests devoted to a specific topic or theme, writers can take advantage of a wide range of scholarship opportunities.

• The Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award is sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation to encourage poems creating a vision of peace. The youth category, for poets 18 and under, carries a prize of $200, while adults can win $1,000.
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships offer $15,000 to talented young poets. The scholarship is meant to help the student further his or her poetic studies and writing.
• The Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund was created to recognize promising young poets. Awards are given to the best lyric poems that celebrate the spirit of life. Yearly prizes total as much as $200,000. Students at UC Berkeley have the additional opportunity to apply for the Dorothy Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Lyric Poetry.
• The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards aim to recognize gifted young writers. Graduating seniors are eligible for $10,000 grants in addition to more than $3 million in scholarship funds at individual schools. In the poetry category, students may submit a single poem or a collection for judging. Song lyrics are also eligible for consideration. The general writing portfolio category may also be of interest to poets who enjoy dabbling in other creative forms.
• Although the Writers’ Conferences & Centers Scholarship Competition does not offer poetry scholarships for college tuition, it does provide funds for professional development. Creative writing students are eligible to win one of two $500 scholarships towards the cost of attending any member program. These options encompass dozens of conferences, retreats, and festivals across the United States and around the world.
• The Live Poets Society of New Jersey sponsors a poetry contest for high school students, with the winner receiving a $1,000 scholarship. The organization also publishes an annual anthology featuring the top poems.

Many colleges and universities offer poetry scholarships for talented incoming and current students. The following are just a few of the possibilities:

• At Illinois State University, the William Morgan Poetry Award recognizes excellent undergraduate and graduate poets and poetry scholars.
• Michigan State University provides the Ambrose D. Pattullo Endowed Scholarship in Poetry for students interested in writing, studying, and teaching poetry.
• Coe College offers a portfolio-based writing scholarship through its Writing Center.
• Students at the University of New Hampshire are eligible for the Daniel Morin Poetry Prize.
• Oklahoma State University sponsors the OSU Foundation Creative Writing Scholarship in Poetry.

Check with your school's English Department, Writing Center, College of Arts and Letters, or other relevant division for additional opportunities.

Don't forget to check for local sources of financial aid. For instance, the Community Foundation of Lorain County sponsors the Helen Steiner Rice Scholarship for creative writing students in this Ohio county. Local writing groups or literary publications may be another source of poetry scholarships.

Some poetry scholarships are offered as part of contests that exist solely to sell published anthologies and other commemorative items to contestants. Be cautious of competitions that offer expensive products and invite you to partake in costly award ceremonies.

Poetry contests sometimes require an application fee, and this is an established practice to help cover the costs of administering the competition. However, before submitting money to an unknown group, look into the contest's sponsors and history. A bit of research should help you avoid scams and devote your application time to reputable competitions.

Whether you're the next Shakespeare or Sylvia Plath, poetry scholarships can help you turn your talent into much-needed financial aid.

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