Please note that travel prizes require you to submit a budget. If you are planning to stay on campus that should be included in your budget. 

THE JAMES CHARLTON KNOX PRIZES

Open to Juniors

THE JAMES CHARLTON KNOX PRIZES are intended to support a summer of independent literary research and are awarded to majors whose records through the junior year demonstrate the greatest integration of scholarship, interest and creativity in the study of English. Recipients will be awarded this prize at the end of the junior year.

The Department's evaluation of the candidates will mainly focus on their submitted proposals, which should outline their plans for a summer project that focuses on reading and thinking critically about literature—on literary research and/or criticism. 

Candidates for this award should submit a project proposal, a preliminary budget, and a short cover letter.* The cover letter should offer a narrative rationale for the summer's research plans, be they to travel abroad to visit a site, to interview a figure important to your research, or even only to stay on campus for a summer of reading and writing.

THE MacARTHUR-LEITHAUSER TRAVEL AWARD

Open to Sophomores and Juniors

THE MacARTHUR-LEITHAUSER TRAVEL AWARD, drawn from the income of a gift by the MacArthur Foundation to the College in 1985 at the request of Brad Leithauser, MacArthur Fellow and Visiting Writer at the College for 1984–85 (learn more about Brad Leithauser here), is a fellowship given annually by the English Department to a Sophomore or Junior of creative promise who might most benefit from exposure to a foreign landscape, for the purpose of enabling the student to travel outside the continental United States. 

While “creative promise” will be interpreted loosely, preference will be given to those students who have displayed some talent in writing poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Financial need and limited previous travel are also considerations. This prize is meant to encourage talented students to invent occasions for self-directed creative work in foreign environments, and cannot be used to pay educational expenses for courses taken abroad.

Candidates for this award should submit a preliminary budget, a sample of creative work and a cover letter.* In this letter, please outline your travel plans, and also offer some insight into how these plans are expected to contribute to your growth as a writer. This letter should give the prize committee a sense of who you are and of the hows and whys of what you hope to accomplish with this award. The finalists will be interviewed by members of the Department. A sample budget can be found here.

* If your project involves international travel, you must upload a copy of your signed International Travel Waiver of Liability, found at this link. If you are under 18 years old, both you and your parents must sign the waiver. This page describes the AIG/Travel Guard program in further detail. Please visit the Study Abroad website for information on Health and Emergency Medical Assistance.

The Alpha Delta Phi Fund

Open to Seniors, *the deadline for this application is October 12th

The Alpha Delta Phi Fundis designed to support senior essay writing, special topics, and other comparable independent projects. All seniors in the humanities and social sciences may apply, but first priority is reserved for English majors and others working in literary studies, creative writing, theater and dance, or film. Monies from the David P. Patchel Memorial Fund can be used for senior projects having to do with the moving image specifically, whether essays, theses, or production projects.

Awards are intended for seniors who are working on projects that are integral to their coursework or are part of independent study for credit that is supervised and evaluated by a faculty member.