The Laura (Riding) Jackson Teen Fellowship is a prestigious award that recognizes students who demonstrate dedication and commitment to the development of their literary skills and talents.
To become an LRJF Teen Fellow, you must:
- Attend 3 official Teen Writing Workshops sponsored by the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation. One of the workshops may be an online workshop.
- Submit a final piece of creative writing inspired by your overall participation in the Teen Writing Workshops. See below for more details.
To submit a final, original writing sample and be considered for a Fellowship Award, it must fulfill the following criteria:
- The writing sample must be an original, creative piece initially inspired by the student’s participation in a Teen Writing Workshop. Poems, short stories, personal narratives or essays, graphic novels, plays, song lyrics, and creative non-fiction pieces are all acceptable.
- Prose samples should be 500-1,000 words; poetry submission should be either one long poem or three shorter poems totaling 500-1,000 words.
- Research papers or other school assignments will not be accepted.
- Include a separate, one-paragraph justification as to how the workshops inspired or helped you write your final submission.
- Submissions will include an introductory paragraph explaining the inspiration for the piece as well as some brief commentary on the writing process involved.
- The submission must be a polished final draft. Use the Submit button below to send in your writing.
Teen Writing Fellows will be formally recognized with certificates at an award ceremony at which they will have the opportunity to read their work to the audience and the option to publish their work on our website.
Further, all IRC college-bound graduating seniors who complete the Teen Writing Fellowship are automatically entered into a pool to win one of two $1000 scholarships LRJF awards in May each year. No further application process is required.
A recognition ceremony is held once per year, but Fellows can receive their certificates whenever they have completed the requirements. That means that seniors who complete the requirements in the Fall can put it on their college applications even if they haven’t yet attend our recognition ceremony.
