It’s time to show off your craft! Each fall, CSU’s creative writing program hosts a campus‑wide undergraduate competition in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
Awards typically start at $500 in tuition waivers, with special merit prizes ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Multiple winners are selected, and all are celebrated at the department’s spring awards reception.
Below, learn more about this year’s submission guidelines.
Creative & Performing Arts Scholarship Submission Guidelines
- Students can submit in multiple genres. Undergraduate students may submit 3 to 5 poems OR 1 short story OR 1 creative nonfiction essay (not an academic paper).
- DO NOT PUT NAME, CSU ID, OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFO IN THE DOCUMENT, INCLUDING THE TITLE.
- Submissions must be emailed to Trent Maverick, Assistant to the Director of Creative Writing: Trent.Kay.Maverick@colostate.edu.
- In the text of the email, you must include YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER, AND CSU ID NUMBER, as well as the GENRE of your submission.
- Emailed submissions must be received by Friday, October 9, 2026, at 5 pm.
Criteria for Award
1) Must have a minimum 2.4 GPA.
2) Must be undergraduates (working on first bachelor’s degree).
3) Must be enrolled full-time (12+ credits).
4) Should be making satisfactory progress toward a degree, i.e., must have satisfactorily completed 75% of CSU courses attempted and must not have accumulated excessive credits. (See Office of Financial Aid for further details.)
Good luck, Rams! We can’t wait to read your work.
