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Avery and Jule Hopwood Awards Program
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The Hopwood Room
Monday - Friday
from 8:30 - 4:30

The Hopwood Room is located on the first floor of Angell Hall in room 1176.

Mailing Address:

The Hopwood Program University of Michigan
435 South State Street
1176 Angell Hall
Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109-1003

Phone: 734.764.6296
Fax: 734.763.3128

For inquiries regarding the Hopwood Program, you may e-mail the Assistant Director, Andrea Beauchamp, at abeauch@umich.edu.

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REGULATIONS AND RULES OF ELIGIBILITY
Graduate and Undergraduate | Summer | Underclassmen | More Info | Application

SUMMER CONTEST

  • This contest is only open to students who take writing courses during Spring and Summer terms.
  • The deadline for the 2008 Summer Hopwood will be June 20 by 12:00 noon if a student is only enrolled spring half and August 4 by 12:00 noon if he or she is enrolled both halves or second half only.
  • Eight awards are generally offered, two in each of the four fields of writing—drama or screenplay, nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry.
  • Novels are not admissible in this contest.
  • Prizes may be redistributed in the event that the merit in a particular field makes such redistribution desirable.

The Hopwood contests were opened to students in the summer for the first time in 1938.

RULES OF ELIGIBILITY

All students in the spring-summer term, or in either half of the spring-summer term, who are regularly enrolled in one writing course (2-3 credits) in the Departments of English, Communication, Theatre and Drama, or Film and Video are eligible to compete, except students who have already won a Graduate award in a Hopwood contest. This rule requiring a writing course is unwaivable. A literature course does not qualify a student.

Entries in each of the four fields are limited as follows:

  1. No manuscript which has received a prize in any Hopwood contest shall be eligible in these contests.
  2. No manuscript that wins an award in the summer contest is eligible in any subsequent Hopwood contest.
  3. Manuscripts in the nonfiction and fiction areas must be between 15-50 pages in length. Poetry manuscripts must be within 10-50 pages, and the limit for screenplay manuscripts is 90-110 pages. Drama manuscripts should be approximately 50-60 pages for a one-act play and approximately 80-100 pages for a full length play.
  4. No manuscript or part of a manuscript that has been published in a medium other than a college magazine or college newspaper shall be eligible.
  5. Because of the difficulties multi-media manuscripts present to the judges, they are not acceptable.

Manuscripts should be typed or word-processed, double-spaced on one side of the paper only, with a left-hand margin of at least one and one-half inches. Poems and plays need not be double-spaced throughout.

White paper, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, must be used for submission.

Three copies of each entry shall be submitted, each set bound in its own folder. Each folder should have identical contents. For example: if you are submitting two stories, story A and story B should be included in each folder.

Only binders which require punched paper are acceptable. A three-hole punch will be available in the Hopwood Room for the use of contestants. Ring binders, and thesis binders will not be accepted. Samples of inexpensive acceptable binders are on display in the Hopwood Room, and recycled ones will be given out while supplies last.

Accompanying the manuscripts shall be one entry form (to be obtained in the Hopwood Room or download PDF). A transcript is not required for this contest.

Every copy must have a title page and a front cover label on which shall appear: (1) the title; (2) the pen name; (3) the contest and division entered (e.g., Summer Hopwood Poetry).

A pen name which does not resemble the contestant's real name is required. A contestant shall use only one pen name, no matter how many divisions he or she enters, and just one entry form.

Completed and assembled manuscripts shall be in the Hopwood Room (1176 Angell Hall) by the appropriate deadline. Contest deadlines are enforced to the minute, so students are urged to turn in their manuscripts early.

Students who are enrolled in the spring half term ONLY must submit manuscripts by 12:00 p.m. June 20.

Students who take their qualifying course during the spring half term but who are enrolled during both terms may turn in their manuscripts by 12:00 noon August 4.

The Summer Hopwood Awards ceremony will be held in the Hopwood Room on Thursday, September 25 at 4:00 p.m.

The committee reserves the right to keep on file one copy of each manuscript submitted. The committee will not be held responsible for the safety of any manuscript presented in the contests.

Note: If you participate in need-based aid programs, be aware that your award is considered a "resource" and could impact your award package.

JUDGES

The judges will be selected from the staff of the University and the Ann Arbor community. For a listing of former judges, please click here.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AWARDS

Names of the winners in this competition will be announced at the end of the summer term. Prizes may be redistributed in the event that the merit in a particular field makes such redistribution desirable. The committee reserves the right to keep on file one copy of each winning manuscript. A five year archive of previous recipients of awards can be seen here.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Questions about this contest should be addressed to the Hopwood Program Assistant Director, 1176 Angell Hall (734) 764-6296.

To download an application, please click here.

MANUSCRIpTS DUE
no later than
June 20, 2008
12:00 noon (Spring-term Only)
OR
August 4, 2008
12:00 noon (Spring/Summer-terms)