How do you get the Hopwood Award?

Answer 1

In order to win the Hopwood Award, you must be a student at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. There are three contests during the year-- the Graduate and Undergraduate contest, the Summer contest, and the Underclassmen contest. In order to qualify, you must be enrolled (or have taken) an approved writing course. Thus, regular literature classes don't count. Some examples of writing courses include: intro to creative writing, creative non-fiction, etc. You can find a full list of approved courses on the Hopwood site. The deadline for the Graduate/Undergraduate contest is usually early February (unless you're graduating after fall semester, in which case the deadline would be earlier, around mid December). For this, awards are offered for essay (non-fiction), short story, novel, drama, poetry and screenplay. The novel, drama, and screenplay divisions are combined categories in which Undergraduate and Graduate students compete together. Page limits for each category can be found on the Hopwood website. The deadline for the underclassmen contest is typically in early December, with the categories of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. You must be either a first or second year student to apply for the underclassmen award, and are enrolled in certain intro-level writing courses (listed on the hopwood site). Finally, for the Summer contest, you must be enrolled in a writing course for the spring or summer that you wish to enter. In order to win, you have to be a really good writer. Good Luck!