Hopwood awards offer money, prestige

By Jen Fish

Daily Staff Reporter

Aspring authors or just poor college students who have a way with words can find extra cash at the University through the English Department's Hopwood Program.

But those looking for the easy money should beware - former Hopwood winners are a prestigious group, whose company includes playwright Arthur Miller and "Big Chill" director Lawrence Kasdan.

The Hopwood Awards were established through a gift from 1905 alumni and playwright Avery Hopwood. Under the terms of his will, one-fifth of Hopwood's estate was given to the University to encourage creative work in writing.

First awarded in 1931, the awards give out about $100,000 every year, Program Associate Andrea Beauchamp said. There are three Hopwood contests - the Graduate and Undergraduate Hopwood Contest, the Summer Hopwood Contest and the Hopwood Underclassmen Contest.

The Underclassmen Contest deadline is Dec. 7 and interested students can visit the Hopwood's Website for manuscript requirements.

Each contest is divided into different writing categories, including short story and essay writing.

While Hopwood winners like Elwood Reid, author of the Michigan football team novel, "If I Don't Six," have gone on to professional writing careers, many Hopwood winners have been students who simply like to write.

Students do not have to be English concentrators to enter, as long as they have been enrolled in a writing course in the past year.

"You don't have to be an English major and you might have a more interesting slant if you haven't," Beauchamp said.

Some winners have been not even been full-time students. Two women in prison taking correspondence courses through the University have won the prize.

In addition to the Hopwood Awards, the program also gives out a number of other fellowships and other writing awards. Some of these include a number of poetry contests with prizes up to $250.

The Sweetland Writing Center is offering a new $1,000 prize to undergraduate students. Funded through a gift from the Contempo Communications Foundation for the Arts, the Callaway Prize has been established in the memory of community activist and columnist Mary Lou Callaway.

More information on the Hopwood Program is available at www.lsa.umich.edu/english/hopwood/hopwood.htm or by calling the Sweetland Writing Center at 764-0429.