scholarships

We are pleased to offer a range of tuition scholarships to make our conference accessible to writers from diverse backgrounds and to reward writing of outstanding merit. MCWC offers scholarships for writers at all levels and from all backgrounds. Some of our scholarships are specifically for writers from underrepresented groups on the basis of age, ethnicity, sexual identity, disability, social or cultural background, and financial need. There are scholarships available for MCWC first-time attendees and for those who have never attended a writers’ conference before. We have scholarships for Mendocino County high school students (grades 9-12) as well.

The scholarship judging categories are organized by submission genre. Applicants will be considered for all possible scholarships.

Scholarships are assigned on the basis of merit, as determined by the judging panel, to a recipient who meets the eligibility criteria of that scholarship. Scholarships are awarded solely at the discretion of the judging panel. On some occasions, not all scholarships will be awarded. With the exception of high school students, successful applicants must wait three years before applying for another scholarship.

Scholarship applications will open in early January of 2026.

OUR SCHOLARSHIPS

With few exceptions, our scholarships and contests are entirely funded by generous donations from individual friends of MCWC. We are grateful to our donors for their generosity.