Department of English
Scholarships
The Fresno State Foundation — with additional support from the Alumni Association and the Division of Research and Graduate studies — awarded 42 scholarships worth more than $52,500 to students majoring in English and creative writing for 2023-24. These scholarship awards, through nominations by English Department faculty, come from endowment funds and gifts to the university. Awards range from $500 to $10,000.
The English scholarship committee is chaired by Dr. Sean A. Gordon. The creative writing scholarship committee is chaired by Prof. Brynn Saito. The department's representative on the College of Arts and Humanities development committee is Dr. J. Ashley Foster.
Two scholarships of $500 -- one at the undergraduate and one at the graduate level -- are awarded each fall to students who demonstrate significant interest in Chicano/a culture and/or history and who are pursuing a career in the field of creative writing.
Students apply through the Department's call for submissions, and selection is made by an outside judge chosen by the creative writing faculty.
One scholarship (amount varies) is awarded every other fall, in odd-numbered years, to a graduate student studying poetry in the Creative Writing MFA program.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an apply-to award; students must select the opportunity to qualify.
One fellowship of $1,000 is awarded each fall to a third-year poetry student in the Creative Writing MFA program, as nominated by the poetry faculty.
Scholarships (amounts vary) are awarded each fall to students in the liberal arts who are studying literature and writing, with preference given to incoming graduate students in the Creative Writing MFA program.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
Scholarships (amounts vary) are awarded each fall to students with a declared major in the English Department, all programs.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
Scholarships (amounts vary) are awarded each fall to students with a declared major in the English Department, all programs.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the English faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
One scholarship (amount varies) is awarded each fall to a student who demonstrates significant interest in pursuing a career in creative writing, with preference given to a second- or third-year student in the Creative Writing MFA program.
Students will apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection will be made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an apply-to award; students must select the opportunity to qualify.
One scholarship of $1,000 is awarded each fall to a student studying creative writing, with preference given to undergraduate English - Creative Writing majors.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the English faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
One scholarship (amount varies) is awarded each fall to a deserving student based on compelling writing and artistic potential in English or Creative Writing, with preference given to a second- or third-year student in the Creative Writing MFA program.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
One scholarship (amount varies) is awarded each fall to a student who is pursuing a degree in English who demonstrates significant interest in multiethnic literatures.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection will be made by the English faculty.
This is an apply-to award; students must select the opportunity to qualify.
Scholarships (amounts vary) are awarded each fall to students who are pursuing a degree in English.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the English faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
Two scholarships (amount varies) are awarded each fall to students who demonstrate significant interest in the Hmong or Asian American cultural experience.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an auto-match award; English Department students automatically qualify.
One scholarship (amount varies) is awarded each fall to a second- or third-year student in the Creative Writing MFA program.
Students apply through the University's general scholarship application, and selection is made by the creative writing faculty.
This is an apply-to award; students must select the opportunity to qualify.
Fresno State's current scholarship application period begins October 1, 2025 and ends March 2, 2026. This application period is for current-year scholarship opportunities that may become available during the 2025-26 academic year, as well as for future-year scholarship opportunities for the 2026-27 academic year.
Please note there are different deadline dates for the various scholarship opportunities offered at Fresno State. Because these deadline dates can change without notice, please do not procrastinate on finishing the application process. If you are enrolled at Fresno State, submit your scholarship application as soon as possible. This will allow you to be considered for current-year opportunities that may become available, as well as future-year opportunities.
To apply for English and creative writing scholarships listed on this webpage, please complete the Fresno State general scholarships application.
2025-26 Recipients
Andrés Montoya Memorial Scholarships
- Stefan Leiva (MFA Creative Writing)
- Emerald Hope Medrano (MFA Creative Writing)
Benck Family Scholarship for Poetry
- Amelia Holguin (MFA Creative Writing)
C.G. Hanzlicek Poetry Writing Fellowship
- Audra Burwell (MFA Creative Writing)
Cheng Lok Chua Scholarship
- Noah Reed Miranda (B.A. English - Literature)
College of Arts and Humanities - Dean's Council Scholarships
- Phoua Lee (MFA Creative Writing)
- Jessika Torres (M.A. English - Literature)
College of Arts and Humanities - Dean's Council Scholarships (Honors Program)
- Aaron Alvidrez (B.A. English - Literature)
- Devynn Brown (B.A. English - Literature)
- Angelina Johnson (B.A. English - Literature)
- Noah Reed Miranda (B.A. English - Literature)
College of Arts and Humanities - general scholarships
- Victoria Acevedo (B.A. English Studies)
- Seth Ervin (M.A. English - Literature)
- Victoria Hopper (M.A. English - Rhetoric and Writing Studies)
- Phoua Lee (MFA Creative Writing)
- Jessika Torres (M.A. English - Literature)
Edward and Alberta Brown Scholarships
- Alexander Ayers (MFA Creative Writing)
- Deborah Mechele Bento (MFA Creative Writing)
- Oliver Esparza Nava (MFA Creative Writing)
- Celeste Jones (MFA Creative Writing)
- Emerald Hope Medrano (MFA Creative Writing)
- Kayla Quevedo (MFA Creative Writing)
- Leslie Kay Quintana (MFA Creative Writing)
- Tere Joyce Randolph (MFA Creative Writing)
- Steven Sandage (MFA Creative Writing)
- Indigo Terán (MFA Creative Writing)
- Ivy Tong (MFA Creative Writing)
English Department Scholarship
- Taylor King (B.A. English - Literature)
Georganne and Phillip Robert Tombs Scholarships
- Aaron Alvidrez (B.A. English - Literature)
- Devynn Brown (B.A. English - Literature)
- Analaura Flores (B.A. English Studies)
- Mariah Gabler (M.A. English - Literature)
- Angelina Johnson (B.A. English - Literature)
- Joshua Sagouspe (M.A. English - Literature)
- Isabella Seechan (B.A. English - Literature)
- Hope Vang (M.A. English - Literature)
H. Ray McKnight Memorial Scholarship
- Aliyah Torres (M.A. English - Literature)
John and Corrinne Hales Scholarship
- Anya Connelly-Howland (MFA Creative Writing)
Larry Levis Memorial Scholarship
- Soreath Hok (MFA Creative Writing)
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Memorial Scholarships
- Angelina Leaños (MFA Creative Writing)
- Stefan Leiva (MFA Creative Writing)
Peter Everwine Memorial Scholarship
- Dani Conklin (B.A. English - Creative Writing)
Philip Levine Scholarship
- Chou Xiong (MFA Creative Writing)
Professor Emeritus Eugene Zumwalt Scholarships
- Abigail Early (B.A. English - Literature)
- Jayla Kajitani (M.A. English - Rhetoric and Writing Studies)
Soul Vang Scholarship in honor of Nouchue Vang and Ying Yang Vang
- Ivy Tong (MFA Creative Writing)
Whitey Alan Fisher Memorial Scholarship
- Taylor Seals (MFA Creative Writing)
Division of Research and Graduate Studies - Nonresident Tuition Waiver Awards
- Emerald Hope Medrano (MFA Creative Writing)
- Juana Santana (MFA Creative Writing)
The English Department's annual Creative Writing Prize contests are organized each spring by the Creative Writing Program, with financial support from the Academy of American Poets and community donors. The faculty coordinator for the prizes is Prof. Brynn Saito.
2026 Winners
Andrés Montoya Memorial Scholarship (graduate)
Winner: Antonia Cardinale, "My Father's Son(s)"
Judge: María Esquinca, author of the poetry collection Where Heaven Sinks
Judge's remarks: "I was first impressed by Cardinale’s personal statement, asserting: “I will continue to write what I love, and push for representation that matters most to me.” Then, I read 'My Father’s Son(s),' a Y.A. story about Romeo, a Mexican trans boy who recently came out to his siblings and parents, and who is struggling to be accepted by his brother and father in a world punctured by machismo. Charming, urgent, and seamlessly blending Spanish and English, I couldn't put Cardinale’s story down. I will look forward to reading the book."
Prize supported by: Friends and family of Andrés Montoya, through gifts to the Fresno State Foundation
Andrés Montoya Memorial Scholarship (undergraduate)
Winner: Raúl Rivera, "In March of 2026" and other poems
Judge: María Esquinca, author of the poetry collection Where Heaven Sinks
Judge's remarks: "Balancing candor and rage, Rivera’s poetry demands us to listen: 'They’ll bash my head in and tell me it’s freedom.' Rivera delivers poems that crush, grieve, and love. Here is a voice who refuses to be silenced."
Prize supported by: Friends and family of Andrés Montoya, through gifts to the Fresno State Foundation
Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize (graduate)
Winner: Leslie Kay Quintana, “coyote runner”
Honorable mention: Celeste Jones, “Well-Known Roads Have a Habit of Speaking”
Judge: Amanda Hodes, author of the poetry collection Into the Into of Earth Itself, winner of the 2024 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry
Judge’s remarks: “Quintana begins: ‘you said you watched a little girl dance away / the cold, her bones the only music you heard in the night.’ Her own ‘bone music’ sings palpably across these pages—deeply visceral, whistling through the charged yet subtle spaces between bodies. Sentences graze meaning, dart between languages and myriad translations. ‘does guilt taste different in another language?’ asks Quintana’s speaker, ‘I cannot cross la frontera you’ve built here[.]’ These poems get to the marrow of language, of connection. They honor the music that is carried inside.”
Prize supported by: Friends of Ernesto Trejo, through an endowment with the Academy of American Poets
Larry Levis Poetry Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Jacob Selway, “Under More Full Moons”
Honorable mention: Yeiri Farias, “Half the face I carry”
Judge: Amanda Hodes, author of the poetry collection Into the Into of Earth Itself, winner of the 2024 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry
Judge’s remarks: “Selway’s long poem is a full-throttle Ginsbergian exhale that holds our attention at every turn. The line breaks are energetic, the repetition is kinetic, and the gaze is expansive yet controlled. All the while, he offsets this momentum with subtle, meaningful moments of quietude. ‘I will fall like Lucifer to hell for the sin that is to share / a vanilla milkshake with two straws and a spoon / in the dark corner / of a dying cafe,’ declares Selway's speaker. As the image is cinematically zoomed in, the speaker continues, ‘the tiled floor is chipped crawling / with butterflies and moths that all have holes in their wings[.]’ There’s an electricity between the delicate and the muscular, the expansive and the intimate, the violent and the tender.”
Prize supported by: Friends of Larry Levis, through an endowment with the Academy of American Poets
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (graduate)
Winner: Phoua Lee, “Monster Eatery Facility”
Judge: Aideed Medina, author of the poetry collection Segmented Bodies
Judge’s remarks: “In ‘Monster Eatery Facility,’ Lee showcases remarkable pacing and mythmaking, transforming a story many of us recognize—the lingering ‘monster’ that haunts families displaced from their homelands—into something urgent and new. With vivid prose, Lee expands the contours of world mythology while keeping the reader fully engaged, as PaChia wrestles with the expectations of the perfect Hmong daughter and the shifting edges of her own identity. Lee’s command of suspense animates every turn of the narrative: Mos Hlub arrives with terrifying clarity, and PaChia’s character is revealed with precision—her history, her body, her resolve—until the reader can’t help but root for this would-be monster slayer. Beneath the tension, Lee’s careful attention to emotional truth offers a moving hope for family reconciliation in this fantastical short story.”
Prize supported by: Friends and family of Mireyda Barraza Martinez, through gifts to the Fresno State Foundation
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (undergraduate)
Winner: Jacob Selway, “Under More Full Moons”
Judge: Aideed Medina, author of the poetry collection Segmented Bodies
Judge’s remarks: “Selway’s poem ‘Under More Full Moons’ names what the speaker is willing to endure to have a full human existence that includes feeling loved. The poem is bruised, burning, and sung. Love is hell, and it tastes like lemons.”
Prize supported by: Friends and family of Mireyda Barraza Martinez, through gifts to the Fresno State Foundation
Fresno Fiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Indigo Terán, “Ocean Life”
Honorable mention: Phoua Lee, “Steel Nemesis, Siren”
Judge: Tiffany Crum, author of the novel This Story Might Save Your Life
Judge’s remarks: “Terán’s ‘Ocean Life’ is a deeply felt, beautifully controlled story that never loses its emotional center. The voice is confident and sustained, and the relationship feels lived-in in a way that makes the grief land with real weight.”
Prize supported by: Joan Poss, through a gift to the Fresno State Foundation in memory of Stanley Poss
Fresno Fiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Yeiri Farias, “Horseplay”
Judge: Tiffany Crum, author of the novel This Story Might Save Your Life
Judge’s remarks: “‘Horseplay’ is an engaging story with a clear voice and strong sense of perspective. Farias’s writing feels natural and precise, and the ending is both surprising and assured.”
Prize supported by: Joan Poss, through a gift to the Fresno State Foundation in memory of Stanley Poss
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Sharon K. McClain, “Thrust Fault”
Judge: Traci Brimhall, author of the essay collection The Grief Artist
Judge’s remarks: “In ‘Thrust Fault,’ the reader is shaken by an earthquake and a step-father’s rage. On this unstable ground, the second-person narrative exists in the constant liminal space, shaken up by fragmented syntax, unpredictable domestic dynamics, and the ground beneath their feet. In McClain’s lovely and moving essay, home is always shifting and safety is seemingly nowhere to be found until the earth and family finally rest.”
Prize supported by: Joan Poss, through a gift to the Fresno State Foundation in memory of Stanley Poss
Past Winners
Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize (graduate)
Winner: Taylor Seals
Honorable Mention: Angelina Leaños
Larry Levis Poetry Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Dawn Parker
Honorable Mention: Celeste Jones
Soul Vang Prize for Poetry
Winner: Phoua Lee
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing
Winner: Phoua Lee
Fresno Fiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Stefan Romeo Leiva
Honorable Mention: Phoua Lee
Fresno Fiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Dawn Parker
Honorable Mention: Steven Sandage
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Soreath Hok
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Steven Sandage
Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize (graduate)
Winner: Phoua Lee
Honorable mention: Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
Larry Levis Poetry Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Emily Peacock
Honorable mention: Analaura Flores
Soul Vang Prize for Poetry
Winner: Phoua Lee
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (graduate)
Winner: Phoua Lee
Honorable mention: Angela Medina-Felix
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (undergraduate)
Winner: Kaylee Ruiz
Honorable mention: Emily Peacock
Fresno Fiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Phoua Lee
Honorable mention: Stefan Leiva
Fresno Fiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Stella Luna Velez
Honorable mention: Celeste Jones
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Jacob Simmons
Honorable mention: Angela Medina-Felix
Honorable mention: Sharon K. McClain
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Stella Luna Velez
Honorable mention: Analaura Flores
Ernesto Trejo Poetry Prize (graduate)
Winner: Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
Honorable mention: Alberto Saldaña Uribe
Larry Levis Poetry Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Sharon K. McClain
Honorable mention: Celeste Jones
Soul Vang Prize for Poetry
Winner: Kaylee Ruiz
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (graduate)
Winner: Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
Mireyda Barraza Martinez Prize for Social Justice Writing (undergraduate)
Winner: Alejandro Perea-Sanchez
Fresno Fiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Mialise Carney
Fresno Fiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Jacob Reina
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (graduate)
Winner: Mialise Carney
Honorable mention: James T. Morrison
Fresno Creative Nonfiction Prize (undergraduate)
Winner: Sharon K. McClain
English and creative writing students excel in their scholarly and creative work, and they consistently achieve significant academic honors and professional accolades. The education they receive today will help them to make a difference in our communities tomorrow.
Your generous donations to English Department scholarships and projects directly help our students achieve their goals. We greatly appreciate the support of our donors.
If you would like to contribute to an existing scholarship or establish one of your own, please contact Dr. Melanie Hernandez, the department's interim chair, at melanieh@mail.fresnostate.edu or 559.278.2553.