The Distinguished Artist Award in Creative Writing
The awards are scholarships for $2500 per year, renewable for four years,
if the recipient maintains a 3.0 grade point average and enrolls in a
creative writing class each year.
The awards are very competitive—we offer only six each year, so
inevitably some very good writers are disappointed. But we think there
is value in applying even for those who are not selected, since it gives
faculty a chance to get to know them and their work before they arrive
on campus and begin taking creative writing courses here.
Below is an application for the award. The writing sample and 500-word
essay are the most important factors in the selection process. Your previous
academic record is not as important as your future promise and ability
to express yourself with words.
Please don’t hesitate to call the English department office (616.395.7620)
or Peter Schakel, Chair of the English Department (616.395.7611), if
you have any questions.
Click here for the application
form
Comments from previous recipients
"The DAA program has been great. I knew I wanted to be a writer
before coming to Hope College, but getting the scholarship kind of gave
me an "in" in the department, and I've loved all of my writing
classes so far. I have definitely kept up with those, being a writing
major. I've had a great experience as a DAA." —Corrie Smith ’06
"The DAA Creative Writing program allowed me to take Poetry 355
as a freshman, which has been an amazing experience so far. The class
far exceeds any
expectations I had of what a poetry class would be like; every day I
learn a new application of meter, scansion, or form as it applies to
the writing of contemporary poetry. I was initially nervous about presenting
my poetry to a class, but the workshop sessions have proved to be an
exhilarating experience, with classmates giving intelligent, insightful
critiques of my work and constructive suggestions for revision. It is
a unique experience to be involved in the creation process of the poetry
of seven other people. I am glad that the DAA opened the door for me
to dive into this upper-level creative writing course in my first term
at Hope." —Bethany Richardson ’09
"I was planning on majoring in English or communications, so the
English with a writing emphasis major seemed like a good track to head
for given
I already needed to take writing classes and had AP credit for lit classes.
. . . The best opportunity being a DAA opened up for me was that it gave
me a place the 255 poetry class the first semester of my freshman year.
I couldn't have asked for a better first experience of writing at Hope.
I was very seriously considering transferring, but the poetry classes
I took helped me through the year and made me realize that I belong at
Hope. . . . Thanks for offering this award; I probably wouldn’t
have chosen to come to Hope if I hadn’t received it, and I’d
be missing out if I wasn’t here." —Anna West ’08
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