Undergraduate Program
Undergraduate Prizes, Awards, and Scholarships
At Miami there are many opportunities for English majors and minors to receive recognition and financial aid. Some of these opportunities are open to all majors and minors, some are specific to English majors or a particular field within the department (e.g. Literature, Creative Writing or Professional Writing), and some are restricted to recognize achievements by students at specific stages in their career, in particular kinds of writing, or within various specialized areas of interest. There are also scholarship opportunities that are not tied specifically to our department, but may be of great interest to undergraduates studying English. Some of these (e.g. the Dean’s Scholars and Undergraduate Summer Scholars Programs) allow students to conduct independent research under the supervision of faculty.
These opportunities are rich but applying for them can also be a little puzzling. The main reason for this potential confusion is that individual prizes, awards, and scholarships were each created at a particular time through the generosity of a particular donor who may have established very particular guidelines concerning how his or her gift was to be used.
There are also some subtle distinctions between what we call “prizes,” “awards,” and “scholarships.” Prizes, for instance, tend to be given “on the spot” to reward the winner of a writing contest. By contrast, awards and scholarships are often intended not so much as a “prize” in that sense, but as a means to support future study by promising students (essentially, that is why seniors who are about to graduate are not eligible to apply for many of these scholarships and awards but are eligible for “prizes”). Moreover, there are important differences in how various competitions are judged. What we call awards tend to be decided by readers outside the department, what we call scholarships are selected by a panel of department faculty
The deadlines for some of these opportunities are not all exactly the same, though most applications are due in March.
Because of these complications, we have separate pages on this site for Prizes, Awards, and Scholarships (both Departmental and Non-departmental). Whenever possible, we try to simplify the application process. For example, you may apply at once for all departmental scholarships through a single application. Similarly, there is a common form to fill out if you wish to apply for any of the particular writing awards.
Any of these opportunities may mean feathers in your cap, cash in your pocket, or impressive lines on your resume, so we hope you take the time to explore these pages.
Best of luck!