Scholarships

With your application form, you will be prompted on whether you are interested in being considered for a scholarship. The deadline for full scholarship consideration: March 15, 2026

The Jeannine Cooney Scholarship for Excellence in Fiction 

The Jeannine Cooney Scholarship for Excellence in Fiction is awarded to the most distinguished candidate in fiction. The award covers a writer's full tuition and lodging at the Hotel Friuli in Udine.

Born in France in 1927, Jeannine Cooney grew up in a small town just north of Paris. Her education was interrupted by the advent of World War II, an event that also spelled the end of her close-knit family. In 1950 Jeannine boarded the Queen Mary bound for the United States to start a new life on her own. She eventually married Terrence Cooney and raised four sons. Throughout her life she was a strong supporter of her sons’ academic and artistic pursuits. She was a great lover of the arts, from the music of her beloved Edith Piaf, to suspense movies, to opera. Many times in her life she relied on the aid of others, and it is in her memory that the Cooney family is proud to offer this scholarship.

 

The Salvatore Cannizzo Scholarship for Excellence in Nonfiction

The Salvatore Cannizzo Scholarship for Excellence in Nonfiction is awarded to the most distinguished candidate in fiction. The award covers a writer’s full tuition and lodging at the Hotel Friuli in Udine.

The son of Italian immigrants, Salvatore Cannizzo, was born in Berkeley, California in 1928. He was passionate about jazz, horses, and sketching. Shortly after beginning his degree in architecture at UC Berkeley in the early 1950s, he was drafted into the Korean War. He did what was asked of him, serving as a frontline medic. As a father he wholeheartedly supported the educational endeavors of his two daughters encouraging them to follow their dreams. The Cannizzo family is honored to offer this scholarship in his memory.

The Lynn Freed Scholarship for Excellence in Prose

The Lynn Freed Scholarship for Excellence in Prose is awarded to the most distinguished candidate in the Special Topics Prose workshop. In 2026, the Special Topic is “late bloomers.” The award covers a writer’s full tuition and lodging at the Hotel Friuli in Udine.

Lynn Freed was the author of seven novels, a collection of stories, and two collections of essays. Five of her books were named New York Times Notable Books of theYear, and one a best book of the year by Times Literary Supplement. Critics called Freed’s work “dead-on brilliant,” “hilariously funny,” “acutely observant,” “astute, frank, and pitch-perfect.” Jonathan Yardley, critic for The Washington Post Book World, had this to say about her first collection of essays: “To the tiny list of necessary books for people who aspire to the writing life—Mystery and Manners, by Flannery O’Connor, and One Writer’s Beginnings, by Eudora Welty—must now be added Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home.” The New York Times Book Review called her last book of essays, The Romance of Elsewhere, “a marvelous collection.” She was the recipient of the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two O. Henry Awards, and she received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Guggenheim Foundation, among others. Freed grew up in South Africa, before coming to the U.S. as a graduate student at Columbia University, where she received an MA and PhD in English Literature.  Shortly before her death in May of 2025, she and Thomas Cooney created the Lynn Freed Prose Scholarship to honor the finest applicant in the Special Topics workshop.

The Mystery/Thriller Scholarship for Excellence

The Mystery/Thriller Scholarship for Excellence will be awarded to the to the most distinguished candidate in the mystery/thriller section. The award covers a writer’s full tuition and lodging at the Hotel Friuli in Udine.

Previous scholarship recipients

April Yee, 2024 Jeannine Cooney Scholar

Jill Jepson, 2024 Frederick E. Hart Scholar

Caitlin Quinn, 2023 Jeannine Cooney Scholar

Kendall Grady, 2023 Giacomo Leopardi Scholar

Carrie Powers, 2023 Frederick E. Hart Scholar

Michelle Walshe, 2022 Jeannine Cooney Scholar

Shevaun Brannigan, 2022 Giacomo Leopardi Scholar

Kent Shell, 2022 Frederick E. Hart Scholar

Stephanie Gangi, 2019 Jeannine Cooney Scholar

Robert Lynn, 2019 Leopardi Giacomo Scholar

Rachel Kesselman, 2019 Frederick E. Hart Scholar