Student Writing Contests

Farthest North Fiction Contest

The Contest will offer a $100 award and is open to all undergraduate students. The award will be for the best submissions in:

• Short story OR
• A single chapter from a novel

Entries must be received by March 8, 2020 in the Department of English, RM 850, Gruening Building or emailed to uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu.

Each submission should have a cover sheet that includes:

• The contest title
• Name of student
• Student ID number
• Address
• The title of the entry.
• The author's name should not appear on the entry.

Only one entry per participant.

The Minnie E. Wells Award for Literary Criticism

The award is a $200 Award and open to undergraduate students who have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree. Writings can be from either Spring, Summer or Fall semester of 2019 or the Spring semester of 2020 in a upper-division or graduate level course in literature offered by the Department of English.

Deadline for submission is March 8, 2020.

An eligible essay would demostrate careful scholarship, sound critical method, and close reading of text. It would not be heavily documented research paper, but it might include some annotations.

The essay must be single-sided, typewritten and double-spaced.

The entry should have a cover sheet that includes:

• Giving the title
• The author's name
• Student ID number
• Mailing address
• Name of the course for which he paper was written

Only one entry per participant.

Entries must be received by the Department of English, RM 850, Gruening Building or emailed to uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu.

Northern Lights Essay - Graduate

The contest is open to all graduate students on University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. The $100 award will be given for the best submission in the following category: Non-fiction-Personal essay or journal entries.

Deadline is March 8, 2020.

Please bring your entries into the Department of English, RM 850, Gruening Building or emailed to uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu.

Each submission should have a cover sheet that includes:

• Name
• Student ID number
• Address
• The title of the entry.
• The author's name should not appear on the entry.

No more than one entry per participant will be accepted.

Northern Lights Essay Contest - Undergraduate

The contest is open to all undergraduate students on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. The $100 award will be given for the best submission in the following category: Non-fiction-Personal essay or journal entries.

Deadline is March 8, 2020.

Please bring your entries into the Department of English, RM 850, Gruening Building or emailed to uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu.

Each submission should have a cover sheet that includes:

• Name
• Student ID number
• Address
• The title of the entry.
• The author's name should not appear on the entry.

No more than one entry per participant will be accepted.

Harold McCraken Award for fiction and non-fiction, outstanding writing about Alaska and the north country

Dr. Harold McCracken, then a director of the Whitney Galler of Wester Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming established the award in 1968. His long assocaition with Alaska began when he led an Ohio State University expedition to the Territory from 1915-1917. He mined in Alaska from 1919-1920, and led an OSU expedition to film the life of the Alaska brown bear and other game in 1922 and 1923. He also led the Stoll-McCraken expedition for the American Museum of Natural History, and added to the archeological information on the Aleutian Islands. In 1966 the University of Alaska conferred an Honorary Doctor of Law degree on McCracken for distinguished achievements which added greatly to the knowledge about Alaska. He has written more than 30 books and several articles, many of which deal with Alaska.

The contest is open to all students enrolled in all campuses of the University of Alaska system. A $150 award will be given for fiction or non-fiction writing (not exceeding 30 double-spaced typed pages). 

One entry per participant will be accepted.

The cover sheet should contain:

• Name of contest
• The title of the submission
• Students name
• Student ID number
• Address

The story, chapter, essay, or journal entry should be neatly typed, double-spaced on one side only of standard weight paper and stapled in the upper left corner. No name or other identifying informaiton should appear on any page of the story, chapter, essay, or journal entry.

Entries must be received by March 8, 2020 and submitted to the address below, delivered in person to Renee Pike (GRUE 850), or emailed to  uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu.

Department of English
Attn: Renee Pike
The Harold McCracken Writing Award
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O.  Box 755720
Fairbanks, Ak 99775-5720

Fax: 907-474-5247 

George W.  McDaniel Writing Fund

The George W. McDaniel Writing Fund provides scholarships for graduate students majoring in creative writing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Requirements:

• Must be a graduate student in the creative writing program attending UAF
• Demonstrate motivation, and academic and leadership potential
• Be in good academic standing with a minimum GPA of 2.0

Award amount: $1000

Apply through the general application, here. If you meet the above criteria, your application will be sent to the appropriate committee for review.

Deadline: March 8, 2020.

Caroline Musgrove Coons Writing Scholarship
Sophomore and junior english majors
Tuition reimbursement

Purpose:
To provide scholarship(s) to sophomore- and junior-level English majors at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The purpose of the award is to encourage students to become better writers. Recipients will use scholarship earnings to reduce or completely defray the cost of tuition for one academic year.

Eligibility:
Recipients must be declared English majors in their sophomore or junior years at UAF. They also must be full-time students during the academic year that they are applying for the award.

Submission:
Students should submit creative or academic writing samples that are no longer than 25 pages. They should make sure that their names are removed from all work before submitting it. However, students should write their student I.D. numbers on the first page of their samples. In addition, students should submit a letter detailing their educational goals and a letter of recommendation from a university faculty member. (They also should fill out the attached cover sheet form.)

Selection Process:
The Composition Committee will serve as the selection committee for the scholarship(s). Committee members will base their decision on a review of the writing sample, the student letter, and the nominating letters.

Application Due Date:
Entries must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday before Spring Break (March 8, 2020). They may emailed to Renee Pike @ brpike@alaska.edu, mailed to the address below, or submitted in person to the English Department, Room 850, Gruening Building.

Mailing Address:
Caroline Musgrove Coons Writing Scholarship
Department of English
University of Alaska Fairbanks
PO Box 755720
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5720

Selection:
Selection will be made two weeks after Spring Break, and the award will be announced the following week.

Requirements:
Recipients must take an advanced writing course during the scholarship support year. Advanced writing courses include English 313, 314, 371, 414, and 471. They also include the following Writing-Intensive courses: English 403, 408, 422, 425, 444, and 448.