Welcome to Writing Scholarships - a newsletter with links to scholarships, grants, competitions, contests, internships, call for entries, residencies, fellowships, funding, and other opportunities for creative writers, screenwriters and teleplay writers, writing educators and students of all ages. There are geographic restrictions that govern the award of most scholarships, so the information provided is limited to the UK, USA and Australia/New Zealand.
WRITING EDUCATION AND BABY BOOMERS
In recent years there's been an explosion in writing education, especially among older students. Last year in the UK alone, over 100,000 students enrolled in creative writing classes - mostly adult education short courses.
The newer universities especially are capitalising on this boom - offering writing courses in such diverse disciplines as memoir writing, fiction and non-fiction writing, poetry, playwriting, novel writing and even writing for children.
In scriptwriting, while film schools have traditionally given students a good grounding in general filmmaking, rarely is the focus on screenwriting - with notable exceptions such as the University of Southern California at LA (UCLA).
More and more students are looking to the professionals for help. Leading screenwriters and directors are selling out one-day seminars and thousands of students are discovering the benefits of interactive distance learning, thanks to the Internet.
Business is booming at Gotham (writingclasses.com) and Screendreams (screendreams.co.uk).
Pioneered by the Open University, distance learning allowed time-poor worker students to get a degree while holding a job down. The downside was little or no interaction between students and a time lag for feedback.
Advances in technology and the power of Internet learning means that thousands of students from around the world can share a classroom - and their thoughts, ideas and dreams.
Not only that - but the cream of professional writers, who might only be able to interact with a small number of students face-to-face, can share their experience with thousands of aspiring writers - and at a fraction of the cost.
What used to be available only to the those lucky enough to go to prestigious universities such as UCLA, is now within the reach of all aspiring writers. And with DV technology making economic filmmaking a reality, the opportunities for hobby and professional writers to realise their dreams have never been brighter.
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