First prize: $30,000 Creative Writing Scholarship^* to Interlochen Arts Academy and publication in the 2010 Interlochen Review.

Eligibility: Any student in grades 8 - 11 during the 2008-09 academic year.

Entry Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by January 10, 2009. Download the entry form

There is no entry fee.

^*In addition to the scholarship, contest-winners may be eligible for additional need-based financial aid.

Submission Guidelines

1. The contest is open to students who are in grades 8-11 during the 2008-09 academic year.
2. Students must submit both poetry and prose pieces.
   • Poetry: 2-4 poems, totaling no more than 200 lines.
   • Prose: short stories or personal essays or a combination of the two, totaling fewer than 4,000 words.
   • No news articles.
3. Entries must be typed or word-processed using a standard font on white letter-sized paper. Prose must be double-spaced. Poems may be single-spaced.
4. To preserve the anonymity of entries, do not include your name on your submissions. Your name will be included on the entry form, which includes a list of your submission titles.
5. Download and complete the entry form or include the following information with your entry:
   • Contact info: name, home mailing address, phone, e-mail
   • Submissions list: titles and genre (personal essay, fiction, poetry)
   • School info: school name and address, age and grade
   • Teacher or parent statement: signed statement that "this entry is original work written by the person listed above."
6. Send your submissions and completed entry form to:
   Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition
   
      U.S. Mail
      Creative Writing Department
      Interlochen Arts Academy
      P.O. Box 199
      Interlochen MI 49643-0199
   
      Express Courier
      Creative Writing Department
      9900 Diamond Park Road
      Interlochen MI 49643-0199
   
7. Submissions must be postmarked by January 10, 2009.
8. Entries will not be returned (don't send your only copy).
9. As many as 25 finalists will be asked to complete an application to Interlochen Arts Academy. This is done before selecting a winner to ensure that the finalists are qualified for admission to the Arts Academy. The first prize scholarship will cover much of the tuition cost but not the entire amount. The winner and recipient of the scholarship may still be considered for additional need-based financial aid in addition to the scholarship. Participants who are concerned about meeting the full cost of attendance for the Academy are encouraged to formally apply for financial aid.
10. Winner will be announced no later than April 15, 2009.
11. If submissions do not meet the standards set by the judges, Interlochen Center for the Arts reserves the right to designate no first prize winner and award no scholarship.
12. Students currently enrolled in Interlochen Arts Academy are ineligible for this contest.

Past Recipients

2007: Sara Steinhouse attends Brandeis University where she is double majoring in International and Global Studies and Sociology. She is also working on a minor in Creative Writing.

2005: Phoebe Rusch is currently a student at Princeton University studying International Relations. In her senior year she was one of only twenty high school students to be named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Her plays were performed and received critical acclaim in Washington D.C.

Other winners include Sarah Resnick (2003) and Rocia Anica (2001)