The Dennis Etchison Young Writers scholarship will be open to students in grades 10-12 (or the equivalent, if home schooled), with an interest in writing horror/dark fiction.
Students must provide a selection of their work (at least 1 completed short story over 1,000 words, 3 chapters from a novel in progress, or 4 poems), at least one letter of reference by their instructor(s), and a description of their goals with an education plan for use of the stipend.
The winner may apply the $500 toward college tuition, course fees (on line or traditional), and/or materials pertaining to the enhancement of writing skills, such as textbooks, software, or computers. The money can also be used for online Horror University courses from the HWA (information on Horror U. courses available online – www.horror.org or by request).
The recipient will have 2 years to utilize the funds.
Bonus: Multi-award nominated author JG Faherty will mentor the winner for 6 months.
The winner will be chosen by HWA’s Scholarship Committee.
Dennis Etchison (1943-2019) was a recipient of the Horror Writers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, four-time Bram Stoker Award nominee, a winner of both the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award, a multiple nominee for the International Horror Guild Award, and a past President of the Horror Writers Association. His novels include Darkside (1986), Shadowman (1993), and California Gothic (1995); as “Jack Martin”, he wrote the novelizations of Halloween II (1981), Halloween III (1982), and Videodrome (1983). Anthologies he edited include the influential Cutting Edge (1986), and the three-volume Masters of Darkness (1986-1991). However, it was his work as a short story writer which garnered him the most acclaim, in such collections as The Dark Country (1982), Red Dreams (1984), The Blood Kiss (1987), and The Death Artist (2000). Etchison, who was called “the most original living horror writer in America” (The Viking-Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural), was an unstinting supporter of new and young writers.