Class of 1940 Creative Writing Award
The Class of 1940 Creative Writing Award provides funding for creative writing achievements by undergraduate students.
Mary McGarry Morris and Margaret C. Chiriaco Scholarship
Established in 1999, by their family in honor of Mary’s enormous accomplishments as one of America’s finest writers and, further, to honor Mary’s mother, Margaret C. Chiriaco, who served as a loving and powerful inspiration to Mary. This scholarship provides support to English majors based on financial need and academic merit. Preference is given to single mothers who have demonstrated an aptitude and a love for creative writing.
Jules Chametzky Translation Prize
Established in honor of emeritus professor, the late Jules Chametzky, this prize is for either an undergraduate or graduate translation published in the Massachusetts Review, thereby encouraging new literary voices in languages other than English. The prize alternates between poetry and prose.
Delaney Fund for the MFA in Creative Writing
The Delaney Fund for the MFA in Creative Writing provides support to non-traditional students pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. Preference is given to women returning to pursue a graduate degree several years after undergraduate work.
English Department Opportunity Fund
The English Department Opportunity Fund provides grants to undergraduate students to purchase books, computer supplies, and other expenses incurred while studying abroad, interning, or attending conferences. Recipients must have demonstrated need and is chosen based on achievement within the department.
John and Donna Farrelly Scholarships
John (BA History) and Donna (BA English) Farrelly established these scholarships to support students with demonstrated need enrolled in the departments of their respective majors.
James W. Foley Memorial Prize
This prize honors the life and writing of MFA/fiction graduate James Wright Foley. The prize is designed to support the work of current MFA candidates who express a political awareness and sensitivity in their prose, and whose concerns extend beyond the limits of their particular circumstances and home language.
Daniel and Merrily Glosband MFA Fellowship in English/Poetry
This fellowship provides recognition and support for a scholar in the Masters of Fine Arts English/Poetry Program of exceptional merit and promise.
Dennis Goeckel and Karen Skolfield Endowed Poetry Fund
The Karen Skolfield and Dennis Goeckel Poetry Award will be made in even years to a student enrolled to study Poetry, who is in good academic standing with a minimum GPA of 3.2.
Anne Halley Poetry Prize
Established by Professor Jules Chametzky to honor the life and work of Anne Halley by awarding to poetry students and providing public recognition of their work in the Massachusetts Review.
John Hicks Prize
This prize is awarded for the best literary essay involving Shakespeare or his contemporaries 1485-1660 that is not eligible for the Charles Peters Prize.
W. Scott Jeffery Scholarship
This scholarship honors Scott Jeffery’s deeply appreciated and irreplaceable contribution to the English Department’s Professional Writing Program providing support for undergraduate students in the professional writing program.
Celeste M. and John F. Loughman Memorial Scholarship in English
This scholarship supports English majors in their sophomore, junior, or senior years. Scholarship recipients are selected based on academic achievement and financial need.
Mason and Susan Lowance Award
The award established by English faculty, Mason Lowance and his wife Susan Lowance, is given to undergraduate students to help defray the cost of books and other necessary educational expenses.
General John J. & Evangeline W. Maginnis Scholarship
This scholarship provides support to undergraduate English majors with demonstrated financial need.
Moran-Herrington Fellowship in Composition and Rhetoric
This fellowship provides support to incoming graduate students in the Department of English whose special field of study in Composition and Rhetoric and whose pursuit of further study in the field springs from an interest in classroom teaching.
Cleo Zoukis Ploussios Memorial Scholarship
Established in memory of alumnus Cleo Zoukis Ploussios to provide a scholarship to an undergraduate English major, preference is given to a female student.
Frank Prentice Rand Scholarship in English
The Frank Prentice Rand Scholarship in English provides scholarships for undergraduate or graduate students in the Department of English based on exceptional scholarship and financial need.
Meredith B. Raymond Scholarship
The Meredith B. Raymond Scholarship provides support to graduate or undergraduate students specializing in English literature in any period prior to the 20th century with an academic record at the honors level.
Sanderson Prize
The Sanderson Prize is awarded for the best essay on any subject. The essay must have originated from courses taken in the English Department from the current or prior two semesters.
College Shakespearean Club Fund
In memory of Dr. Charles A. Peters, Class of 1897, this fund was established to encourage and aid undergraduate and graduate students with high academic standing specializing in Shakespeare or his contemporaries in the Elizabethan Period.
Deborah Slosberg Memorial Prize
Established in memory of Deborah Slosberg, by her mother, this provides yearly prizes to students who are enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts Program for Poets and Writers.
Betty Steinbugler Fund
The Betty Steinbugler Fund provides a prize for the best essay written by a junior or senior to be awarded annually at Commencement.
Harvey Swados Fund
The Harvey Swados Fund provides an award to the author of the best piece of fiction, whether short story or novel, produced during the academic year.
Walker Gibson Prize
The Walker Gibson prize is awarded for the best essay on a subject in Composition and Rhetoric. Graduate students in English may only submit papers from graduate seminars (excluding independent studies) written for an audience of teachers and scholars in composition studies.
Phyllis Weidig Tutoring Fund
Established to provide awards for students employed at the UMass Amherst Writing Center, who, in the view of its director, have distinguished themselves as tutors.
LeeAnne Smith White Essay Prize in English
An annual prize to graduate students in the Department of English for a well-developed, engaging essay that offers fresh insight to readers on a topic that falls within the broad area of American cultural and literary studies. Areas that align with the honoree’s interests—literature, music, and the visual arts, as well as place, landscape, the environment, and issues of identity—are especially welcome.