Quill and Scroll Scholarships

Scholarship Sponsored by Quill & Scroll

Introduction
Quill and Scroll administers several annual competitions and scholarship opportunities for student journalists. Each year the organization runs three main contests — Writing, Visual and Multimedia — plus additional contests including the Yearbook Excellence Contest and the Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) Portfolio Contest.

Competitions
- Writing, Visual and Multimedia Contest: Currently enrolled students may submit entries to these three flagship contests. Sweepstakes winners receive a plaque. Individual contest winners become eligible to apply for Quill and Scroll scholarships when they are seniors. (A list of last year’s winners is available on our site.)
- Yearbook Excellence Contest: Winning yearbooks qualify their student seniors to apply for Quill and Scroll scholarships. Any member school may enter, regardless of which company produced the yearbook that year.
- Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) Contest: Co-sponsored by Quill and Scroll, this contest recognizes top work from private and independent schools. It is a portfolio-style competition that rewards sustained journalistic achievement over the course of an academic year.
- Other national contests: National winners in events such as the Yearbook Excellence Contest, the International Writing, Photography and Multimedia Contest, and the Eye on Ivy Editorial Writing Contest are eligible for scholarship consideration as seniors.

Scholarship overview and eligibility
- Applications for the 2026 scholarship cycle are now open. The application deadline is May 8, 2026.
- National contest winners (see contests listed above) may apply as seniors for the Edward J. Nell Memorial Scholarship and the George and Ophelia Gallup Award.
- The Richard P. Johns Award is open to all Quill and Scroll seniors, including those who did not enter contests.
- Scholarships are for the freshman year only. Awards may be paid in two installments and are disbursed through the recipient’s college or university bursar.
- Funds may be used for tuition, room and board at any accredited college or university.
- Recipients must plan to major in journalism or a related communications field.
- Award amounts vary; the Quill and Scroll Scholarship Committee determines award sizes based on the strength of applications and recommendations.

Recent awards
This year we awarded scholarships to three seniors from the class of 2025. Past recipients have gone on to notable careers in journalism.

Application materials — what you must submit
1) Two letters of recommendation
- One letter should come from your journalism teacher or adviser.
- One letter should come from your school principal or a school counselor.
- Recommenders should prepare their letters on official school/district letterhead, save them as PDFs, and give them to the student to upload with the online application.
- If your school or district policy forbids giving recommendation letters to students, ask recommenders to email the PDFs directly to qscontests@studentpress.org.
- Each letter should address:
• Why the student merits a Quill and Scroll Foundation Scholarship in Journalism.
• The student’s class rank, GPA, and ACT/SAT scores (if applicable).
• Traits or qualities indicating the student will succeed in college journalism or as a journalist.
• A brief anecdote or example that supports the recommender’s evaluation.

2) Personal statement (maximum 500 words)
- Discuss significant topics such as your journalistic experience, future plans, extracurricular activities, honors, volunteer service, and how you plan to finance college.

3) Samples of journalistic work
- Submit three examples that demonstrate your skills and potential. These can be links to published articles, photo galleries, videos, or uploaded files of work printed in student or professional publications.

4) Color photo of the applicant
- Provide a small color photo (preferably a headshot). File should be a .jpg and no larger than 2 MB.

Submission and selection
- Follow the online application form instructions to upload required documents and links.
- The Scholarship Committee reviews materials and recommendation letters to determine recipients and award amounts.

Questions
- If you have problems obtaining recommendation letters because of school policy, contact qscontests@studentpress.org for assistance.

Deadline reminder: Scholarship applications must be submitted by May 8, 2026.