Between September 1 and the deadline of November 15th, Interlochen Arts Academy will be accepting submissions for the Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Scholarship Competition. This scholarship offers the winning writer full tuition to attend Interlochen Arts Academy (a prestigious arts high school in Northern Michigan) as a Creative Writing major. The scholarship includes room and board, and renews each year the student is enrolled. The scholarship is made possible by the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation. Please visit our website to learn more about Creative Writing at Interlochen Arts Academy.
We are looking for the best teen writers in the US and beyond! Think that might be you? Check out the guidelines below!
Portfolio submissions for the 2026-27 school year are now open!
1. Students in grades 8-11 during the 2025-2026 school year are eligible to apply. Students currently enrolled at Interlochen Arts Academy are ineligible for this contest.
2. Your submission should include no fewer than five and no more than seven samples of original creative writing created and/or revised during the last year. Your submission should be no longer than about 4,000 words or about 20 pages total.
- The samples must represent at least two of the following genres:
- Poetry
- Fiction (including novel excerpts)
- Creative Nonfiction (e.g. personal essay, memoir, nature writing)
- Screenwriting
- Playwriting
- Spoken Word
- Humor Writing
- Graphic Narrative
- Hybrid Genre / Experimental Writing
3. Please submit all written work as PDF files. Video/audio may be submitted as mp3, mp4, .mov, or YouTube links. Include the name of the genre in the file name. For example, if you are submitting poetry and personal essay, you should create separate PDF files titled "poetry" and "personal essay." Text-based work should be typed, in a standard format and font, double-spaced for prose, single-spaced for poetry—unless deviations are deliberate and integral to the text. To preserve the anonymity of entries, please do not include your name within the document or the file name.
4. Submissions will be accepted until Nov. 15, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Finalists will be notified no later than December 19.
5. Finalists will be required to complete a formal application to Interlochen Arts Academy by Jan. 15, 2026 in order to remain eligible for the Scholarship. Application fee waivers and portfolio waivers will be provided.
6. The first-prize scholarship will cover full tuition to attend Interlochen Arts Academy. Second and third place winners will also be recognized and remain eligible for financial aid. Please note that the scholarship is not transferrable to Interlochen Arts Camp.
7. The winner will be notified and other entrants will be informed of their admission decision during the month of March. All applicants will be considered for financial aid.
8. If submissions do not meet the standards set by the judges, Interlochen Center for the Arts reserves the right to designate no first prize winner and award no scholarship.
Submission must be received in Submittable no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 15, 2025.
If you have any questions, please email the Director of Creative Writing Karyna McGlynn at karyna.mcglynn@interlochen.org
RED WHEELBARROW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
The Red Wheelbarrow is a quarterly literary magazine edited and produced by Creative Writing majors in collaboration with Visual Arts majors. A public reading/performance is held to celebrate the launch of each issue.
Current Interlochen Arts Academy students in all arts majors are welcome to submit their writing and visual artwork for consideration by the editors. Singer-Songwriters are invited to submit songs to be played live at the reading.
The deadline for submissions for the first Red Wheelbarrow of the 2025-26 school year will be Friday, September 26 by 11:59 pm EDT.The reading/performance for this issue will be on Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30pm.
Please follow the submission guidelines below and go to the following link to create an account and upload your work using Submittable: https://interlochen.submittable.com/submit
Red Wheelbarrow Submission Guidelines:
Writing Submissions:
- Students may submit poems, flash fiction, short stories or fiction excerpts, creative nonfiction (personal essay or memoir), scripts/screenplays, and experimental/unclassifiable writing.
- Students are limited to 3 submissions for poetry, and 2 submissions for prose and scripts/screenplays (maximum 5 pieces total).
- Prose and script/screenplay excerpts are limited to 5,000 words.
- Please remove your name from each individual piece before submitting. If your name appears on the document or in the title of the file, the piece will not be considered by editors.
- Please submit each individual piece separately.
- Following the instructions on Submittable, upload each submission as a .docx ONLY. To download as a .docx from Google Drive, click on File, select Download as from the dropdown menu, and select Microsoft Word (.docx) from the dropdown menu.
Notification for All Submitters:
If your work is selected, you will be notified by the editors via e-mail by 5pm on Friday, October 3. Due to the volume of submissions, editors are not able to respond to every submission.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
Thank you,
The Editors
RED WHEELBARROW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
The Red Wheelbarrow is a quarterly literary magazine edited and produced by Creative Writing majors in collaboration with Visual Arts majors. A public reading/performance is held to celebrate the launch of each issue.
Current Interlochen Arts Academy students in all arts majors are welcome to submit their writing and visual artwork for consideration by the editors. Singer-Songwriters are invited to submit songs to be played live at the reading.
The deadline for Singer-Songwriter submissions for the first Red Wheelbarrow of the 2025-26 school year is Friday, September 26 by 11:59pm.The reading/performance for this issue will be on Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30pm.
Please follow the submission guidelines below and go to the following link to create an account and upload your work using Submittable: https://interlochen.submittable.com/submit
Red Wheelbarrow Submission Guidelines:
Singer-Songwriter Submissions:
- Students are limited to 3 song submissions.
- Students can submit collaboratively written songs.
- Please submit each song separately.
- Each song should be uploaded as as a MP3 following the instructions on Submittable.
- Accepted singer-songwriters must be prepared to participate in a performance on Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30pm.
Notification for All Submitters: If your work is selected, you will be notified by the editors via e-mail by 5pm on Friday, October 3. Due to the volume of submissions, editors are not able to respond to every submission.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
Thank you,
The Editors
RED WHEELBARROW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
The Red Wheelbarrow is a quarterly literary magazine edited and produced by Creative Writing majors in collaboration with Visual Arts majors. A public reading/performance is held to celebrate the launch of each issue.
Current Interlochen Arts Academy students in all arts majors are welcome to submit their writing and visual artwork for consideration by the editors. Singer-Songwriters are invited to submit songs to be played live at the reading.
The deadline for Visual Arts submissions for the first Red Wheelbarrow of the 2025-26 school year is Friday, September 26 by 11:59pm. The reading/performance for this issue will be on Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30pm.
Please follow the submission guidelines below and go to the following link to create an account and upload your work using Submittable: https://interlochen.submittable.com/submit
Red Wheelbarrow Submission Guidelines: Writing Submissions:
Visual Arts Submissions:
- Students are limited to 3 Visual Art submissions.
- Visual Art submissions will be reproduced in full color.
- All Visual Art submissions MUST include a title, or please specify if the piece is untitled. Please also list the media, as you would on the plaque in a gallery.
- Please do not include your name in the title of the file.
- Each submission should be uploaded as a .jpeg or .PDF following the instructions on Submittable.
Notification for All Submitters: If your work is selected, you will be notified by the editors via e-mail by 5pm on Friday, October 3. Due to the volume of submissions, editors are not able to respond to every submission.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
Thank you,
The Editors