Scholarship Application Deadline:

June 17

We offer a number of scholarships that cover the full cost of tuition.

• General Merit Scholarships: open to all interested students.
• Richard L. Harwood Conference Scholarships: open to students applying for the Journalism track.
• The Unbound Scholarship: funded by The Needle's Eye Academy: open to all scholars of color attending high school and living in any county on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
• Kent Cultural Alliance Scholarships: open to students attending high school in Kent County.
• Dixon Scholarships: funded by Dixon Valve: open to all students from, or attending school in, Kent and Queen Anne's Counties, MD.
• Dorchester Young Writers Scholarship, funded by Choptank Arts and Culture Exchange: open to all students living or attending school in Dorchester County, MD.
• Lower Shore Scholarships: funded by Salt Water Media and Stephanie L. Fowler: open to all students from, or attending school on the Lower Shore (Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Dorchester Counties, MD; Sussex County, DE).
• Talbot Summer Arts Scholarships*: available for every student who lives in Talbot County, MD, regardless of where they study. To be eligible for this scholarship, you must follow the instructions below AND you must apply for a Summer Arts Scholarship through the Talbot Arts webpage. The Summer Arts Scholarship application period is generally in late May, so don't delay! You may copy any relevant information from our website to answer the questions on that application. 

To apply for any of these scholarships, please complete the general conference registration form. At the bottom of that form, answer "Yes" when asked, "Would you like to be considered for a scholarship to cover the cost of this conference?" 

You will then be asked to upload a writing sample that corresponds to the workshop track you have chosen:

• Poetry: submit up to three poems as a single document.
• Fiction or Journalism: submit a document of up to 750 words in your chosen genre.

All writing samples should be submitted as either a PDF or Microsoft Word document. The heading of your document should note the workshop track you have chosen, and the scholarships for which you are eligible.

The scholarship application period closes on June 17. Applicants will be notified of final scholarship decisions within forty-eight hours. Specific instructions for completing registration will be included in the official scholarship response email.

Please note: Conference registration is limited to 48 total students, and we often reach full capacity before the registration deadline. Your spot at the conference is not guaranteed until you have paid your registration fee OR received word that you have been awarded a scholarship. If you apply for a scholarship but are not awarded one, you may register as a paying attendee if we still have space, but your choice of workshop genre is likely to be limited; our fiction workshop groups in particular regularly fill before the registration deadline. If you’d like to pay for the registration AND submit a scholarship application, you may do so by registering & paying online, and then contacting Conference Coordinator Amber%20Taliancich to submit the scholarship application information and writing sample.