Columbia Central

Frances Hayes Endowed Screenwriters Award

for continuing undergraduate students

The Frances Hayes Endowed Screenwriters Award was established to provide financial assistance to a current Screenwriting student at junior or senior level, as well as recognize the best "amateur" screenwriter and give them a first step into screenwriting as a profession.

Deadline to Apply: February 01, 2025

• How to Apply

  Visit Internal Scholarships and click on APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS to access the College-Wide Undergraduate Scholarship Application. Only complete scholarship applications submitted by the deadline will be reviewed by the scholarship committee. 

  Please follow all directions carefully. Students must submit the following materials to make a complete Frances Hayes Endowed Screenwriters Award application. There are two parts to the application:

  PART 1: SCREENPLAY

  Upload one unpublished screenplay.

  Please upload your screenplay in .pdf, .doc, or .docx format. 
  
  PART 2: LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION
  

  One letter of recommendation is required from a School of Film and Television faculty member who is familiar with your accomplishment in Screenwriting.

  For your convenience, the online application will send an email notification directly to the person you've chosen to complete your recommendation. Please be prepared with the email address of your recommender. 

  Remember to contact your recommenders directly before providing their information on the application. Since this application is part of the larger College-Wide Undergraduate Scholarship application, also note the specific scholarship(s) for which they will be recommending you. Be sure to give recommenders as much time as possible to write letters. Requests made at the last minute are often difficult to fulfill by the deadline.
  
  

  Access online applications through Internal Scholarships.

   

• Scholarship Terms
  • Application must be submitted by February 1, 2025 (11:59 pm) for review by the committee
  • Previous amount of this one-year scholarship was up to $1,750, awarded half in Fall and half in Spring
  • Scholarship is applied toward tuition only
  • Students' scholarships that are applied toward tuition may not exceed the amount of their tuition costs
  • Recipients must maintain full-time, undergraduate enrollment during the 2025-26 academic year
  • Recipients who graduate in Fall 2025 may receive the full scholarship amount in Fall 2025
  • Scholarship may be used toward a study abroad program through one of Columbia's student exchange programs, excluding Summer sessions. Please note: Recipients who enroll in an independent study abroad program not associated with Columbia College will forfeit their scholarship during the semester spent abroad
  • Students who are not selected to receive the scholarship may compete in subsequent years provided they continue to meet eligibility requirements, but no student may receive the scholarship more than once
  • The rules and regulations governing other sources of financial aid (federal, state, institutional and other grants, gifts, or loans) will apply
  • Columbia College Chicago reserves the right to withhold the scholarship in any year in which, at the sole discretion of the scholarship committee, suitable candidates cannot be found among applicants

IMPORTANT DATES

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