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The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to offer a variety of scholarships to assist writers looking to pursue a career as a writer of horror fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. We also offer one endowment to libraries to expand their young adult reading programs.

• The Horror Writers Association Scholarship
• The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship
• Diversity Grants
• The Dark Poetry Scholarship
• The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship Fund for Non-fiction
• The Dennis Etchison Young Writers Scholarship
• The Scholarship From Hell (for StokerCon)
• Young Adults Write Now endowment program

HWA is dedicated to promoting the horror genre and providing education to both the general public (via our appearances at conventions and book festivals, our yearly StokerCons, and our iconic Bram Stoker Awards®) and to writers.

THE HWA, MARY SHELLEY AND POETRY SCHOLARSHIPS, AND THE ROCKY WOOD FUND, ARE NOW OPEN TO APPLICATIONS. The application period will close at 12:00 pm PST on August 1st, 2025. Winners will be announced at this website and on the HWA member Facebook page in September. You will not be notified unless you were chosen. Diversity grants will open to application on August 1.

If you have questions, please visit our General Rules or the FAQ.

PLEASE NOTE: HWA does NOT offer grants to fiction writers, we do not hold writing competitions, and we don’t buy writing work. If you’d like to submit to HWA’s exclusive anthologies, you must be a member of HWA first – please visit the Horror Writers Association for more information on how to join.