Undergraduate Scholarships and Awards

The Barry Wright Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually (when funding is available) by the Department of English in recognition of artistic excellence in the writing of poetry by an undergraduate at Ball State. Because the criterion for the award is artistic excellence, no scholarship is awarded in any year in which the panel determines that no entry exhibits sufficiently high artistic quality to merit an award.

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Application Deadline

Please submit via email to english@bsu.edu by March 27, 2026 @ 4 p.m.

Named in honor of a former secretary for the administrative assistant to the department chair, the Elizabeth Martin Scholarship is presented to English majors displaying those characteristics of scholarship, character, and leadership.

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Application Deadline

Please submit via email to english@bsu.edu by March 27, 2026 @ 4 p.m.

The Dr. Janet Ross Scholarship for Teachers of English as a Second Language is a merit award. The amount may be divided among several students, if so recommended by the selection committee. The recipient must be enrolled as a teaching major in English/language arts in combination with English as a second language licensure program or TESOL certificate. The recipient shall display those characteristics of scholarship, character, and leadership which, in the judgment of the selection committee, are considered essential for success in the field of teaching English as a second language.

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Application Deadline

Due to funding availability, the Dr. Janet Ross Scholarship for TESOL is not currently available. This page will be updated when students can once again apply for the scholarship.

The Leslie and Patrick Ballard Scholarship is intended for future teachers of English. It was established by Leslie Ballard, a Ball State graduate in English education and Patrick Ballard, a Ball State graduate in political science.

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Download Application (high school students)

Application Deadline

Please submit via email to english@bsu.edu by March 27, 2026 @ 4 p.m. 

This scholarship was established by Steven Chalk in honor of his wife Carol S. Chalk, who received her PhD in rhetoric and composition from Ball State University.

During her graduate program, from 1996–2002, Carol directed the Writing Center. The center was her most comfortable professional home, mediating between the values of family and collaboration, on one hand, and academic achievement on the other.

The purpose of the fund is to provide a scholarship to a full-time student who is employed in the Writing Center and has at least one semester of undergraduate coursework remaining. The scholarship is awarded to a tutor who has demonstrated patience, creativity, and a commitment to encouraging, mentoring, and nurturing other student writers. Because the Carol S. Chalk Memorial Scholarship is determined by the Director of the Writing Center, there is no application process for this award.

Students who excel in their English major studies may elect to participate in a departmental honors program. Those students who fulfill the specified requirements will earn the distinction of graduating with “Departmental Honors in English,” which will be recorded on their official transcripts, noted in the records of the English Department and the Honors College, and printed in the University’s Commencement Program.

The requirements for Departmental Honors in English include the following:

1. The student must earn an English major GPA of 3.8 or higher.
2. The student must submit a portfolio to the Academic Honors in Writing competition, which will be evaluated at the department level to determine whether the student will be awarded the Honors in English distinction.

Each year the English Department recognizes one graduating senior whose academic achievements have been exemplary.

There is no application process for this award.

The Writing Center Award is presented to the outstanding tutor of the year. There is no application process.

The Excellence in Creative Writing Scholarship is awarded annually (when funding is available) by the Department of English at Ball State University in recognition of artistic excellence in creative writing in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and/or screenwriting by an undergraduate English Major or English Minor/Dual Minor at Ball State.

Because the criterion for award is artistic excellence, no scholarship will be awarded in any year in which the panel determines that no entry exhibits sufficiently high artistic quality to merit an award. 

Students are invited to apply in no more than two genres per application cycle (e.g., a student could apply in fiction and poetry in the same year, but not fiction, poetry, and screenwriting); past winners who have been awarded this scholarship are not eligible to apply in the same genre, but may apply in any genre for which they have not already won a scholarship.

All judging of creative work is done anonymously by a committee comprised of BSU creative writing faculty. To be eligible to receive this scholarship, an individual must be enrolled at least part-time as an undergraduate at Ball State during the semester in which the application is made and during the following Fall or Spring semester.

An individual who has been awarded this scholarship is eligible to receive it again.

All creative writing entered remains the property of their authors, but entry manuscripts are not returned.

Download Application

Application Deadline

Please submit via email to english@bsu.edu by March 27, 2026 @ 4 p.m.