2015 Scholarships for Members

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce two annual scholarships – the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship; and The Horror Writers Association Scholarship, each worth $2500.

Submissions for 2015 are closed. We’ll take applications for 2016 soon.

The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship will be open to female writers who are members of the HWA.

The Horror Writers Association Scholarship will be open to all members of the HWA.

The first Scholarships were awarded in 2014. Thereafter, the Scholarships are given annually. Both Scholarships are designed to assist in the professional development of our members.

HWA President Rocky Wood explained the intent of The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship, “It is very clear to the HWA that there are unseen, but real, barriers limiting the amount of horror fiction being published by women. There are many fine women writers being published in our genre but we also see potential for the percentage of horror fiction being published by women to increase. This Scholarship, named after the great female horror writer, aims to encourage more female writers to enter our genre and to aid in the development of those already working within it. At the same time the HWA exists to extend the horror genre in all its aspects, so we are also establishing Horror Writers Association Scholarship, which is open to all our members, regardless of gender.”

The application for each Scholarship will be the same – a sub-Committee of the HWA Board will choose the winners, who will be announced around 15 March of each year. Applications for the 2015 Scholarships are now closed.

Each Scholarship is worth $2500, which may be spent on approved writing education over the two years following the granting of the scholarship (see the Rules at www.horror.org/scholarships for more detail).

“These are the largest, and possibly the only, Scholarships offered in the horror genre. HWA hopes to supplement these scholarships with smaller grants as funds allow,” Wood said.

More information.