About the Award
- Who Is Eligible?
- Submissions
- How Do I Apply?
- Judging
- Scholarship Award and Prizes
- Announcement of Finalists
- What Are My Obligations If Awarded the Scholarship?
- Louise Mooney Collins
Gale is proud to sponsor the Louise Mooney Collins Creative Writing Scholarship, an annual award for 11th and 12th grade students in Southeastern Michigan. Established in 1998, the scholarship has provided one young Michigan writer per year with a $3,000 scholarship for institution costs and fees for the post-secondary educational programs of their choice. In addition, 5 finalists in the contest each year have been awarded $100 gift certificates to Borders Books. The winner and five finalists also receive an invitation to attend, along with sponsoring teacher/counselor and parents/guardians, a dinner in their honor.
Scholarship Contest Rules and Regulations
Who Is Eligible?
Three students (11th or 12th Grade) from each high school in the Michigan counties of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Washtenaw. Sponsorship from the student's guidance counselor or teacher, plus the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required. Employees of Gale, their affiliates, subsidiaries and vendors and their immediate families and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible. Former winners are not eligible.
Submissions
Students submit original works of creative writing to Gale, where they will be judged by merits of their originality, creativity, writing excellence and command of language. Each year Gale will announce the genre and criteria of the contest. (In the past there have been separate contests for poetry and prose with different length requirements.) Entries that do not comply with the submission criteria will be withdrawn from consideration without exception.
How Do I Apply?
Entrants must complete and submit the official registration form along with their manuscript. It must be mailed to Gale and postmarked by the specified date. Official registration forms can be obtained from your school's guidance counselors. (Forms are not available online since Gale only accepts three entries per school.) Entries will not be returned. Contact Gale to find out when the next group of submissions will be solicited.
Teachers and guidance counselors: we need your help! Please coordinate so that only three entries from your school are submitted. If more than three submissions are received from the same school, only the first three will be considered. For more information, please contact Vanessa Birch at (248) 699-8193 or by e-mail at vanessa.birch@thomson.com
Judging
Judging will be conducted by the Scholarship Selection Committee of Gale to determine six (6) finalists, from which one (1) Scholarship Recipient will be named. Judges will receive only a numbered submission. Candidates' name, school, and other information will be unavailable to judges. Please note that only the six (6) finalists will be notified of their selection by mail/telephone. Decision of the judges is final.
Scholarship Award and Prizes
The six (6) finalists for the scholarship will be invited to attend, along with sponsoring teacher/counselor and parents/guardians, a dinner in their honor. The scholarship winner will be notified prior to this event.
The first place winner will receive a $3,000 award for institution costs and fees for the post-secondary educational program of his/her choice. This includes two- and four-year college or university degree programs, as well as programs offered by accredited vocational/technical schools. The winner must redeem the scholarship award within three (3) years of the date of the award or the scholarship will be rescinded. The award will be paid in one sum directly to the chosen institution. In addition, the five (5) remaining finalists will each receive a $100 gift certificate to Borders Books.
Announcement of Finalists
A general press release will inform local media of the names and high schools of the scholarship winner and the remaining five finalists each year. Please note that only the six finalists will be notified of their selection via mail/telephone. Other entrants may write for the names of the scholarship winner and finalists. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Scholarship Contest
c/o Alesia Lawson
Gale
27500 Drake Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535What Are My Obligations If Awarded the Scholarship?
Acceptance of a scholarship constitutes permission to use the recipient's name and/or likeness and work for purposes of advertising or trade, otherwise no obligations of any kind are imposed on the scholarship holder. No obligation or liability is assumed by Gale in accordance with the scholarship.
Recipients are selected without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, height, weight, marital status or national origin.
The program is independently managed by Gale.
Louise Mooney Collins
Louise Mooney Collins worked as an editor at Gale for 14 years. A lover of language, literature, and the arts, she kept journals and wrote volumes of poetry and fiction from an early age and throughout her life. In 1995 Louise was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her first child. She died nearly three years later, in November 1997. She is survived by her husband and daughter, who has inherited her mother's distinctive way with words. Her friends at Gale know of no better way to honor Louise's memory than to encourage the creative spirit in young people through this scholarship fund.