Creative Writing Certificate Program | College of Liberal Arts
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Writing Contests

Each spring, the Department of English accepts submissions for the Parker and Kruger writing contests.

James F. Parker Writing Prizes

James Forrest Parker was a Greenville, Texas, native who earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1948. After retiring from the United States Marine Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Parker served as a Professor of English at various University of California campuses for more than 30 years. He was an avid golfer and reader, a member of the Sierra Club, and enjoyed traveling around the world. A great friend to the Department of English, our writing contests are named in his honor.  Categories include Fiction, Poetry, and Literaray Criticism. The Parker contests are open to all UT-Austin undergraduate English majors and Creative Writing Certificate students.

Fania Kruger Fellowship in Writing

Fania Feldman Kruger was born in 1893 in Sevastapol, Russia, on the shores of the Black Sea. There, she was witness to atrocities committed by Cossack troops against her family and others. In fear for their safety, Fania’s family escaped to the United States in 1908. These experiences inform her poems, which address persecution, injustice, and terror; they also reveal an abiding love of family and Jewish culture. Through her poetry, Fania demonstrates a deep compassion for all humanity and a commitment to human rights. Later in life, Fania settled in Austin, Texas, and frequented courses and lectures on the UT-Austin campus. The Kruger Fellowship honors Fiction and Poetry that is characterized by the vision of social justice that is the hallmark of Fania’s poems.  The Fania Kruger Fellowship competition is open to all currently enrolled UT-Austin graduate and undergraduate students in any major.

Other UT Austin Writing Contests

Ellen Engler Burks Scholarship For Creative Writing

This scholarship was established in memory of Texas Exes Life Member Ellen Engler Burks, BA’99, by her parents, Gail and Chuck Engler, her husband, Jonathan Burks, and the other family and friends who love her and want her to always be remembered. After graduating from South Texas College of Law, she joined the firm of Powers and Frost, LLP, in Houston before her untimely death in 2007. Ellen will always be remembered for her unwavering love, her open ear, her beautiful smile, sparkling eyes, her strength and determination and her open heart. In keeping with Ellen’s passion for reading, research and writing, this scholarship will help students with a love for English complete his/her degree.

The Burks Scholarship is awarded by the Texas Exes.

Keene Prize for Literature

Roy Crane Award

Past Winners

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