Navigate between awards from different departments and organizations at Duke.
Duke Arts Creative Arts Grants are provided to help defray project expenses of up to $500 for Trinity and Pratt students enrolled in faculty-supervised Independent Study courses or full-credit private instruction in the creative arts (e.g., Art & Visual Studies, Dance, Literature, Music, Theater Studies).
The Benenson Awards in the Arts provide funding for fees, travel and other educational expenses for arts-centered projects proposed by Duke University admitted undergraduate students, including graduating seniors. Students who plan to pursue a career in the arts or creative industries are especially encouraged to apply.
Each year the Office of Vice Provost for the Arts awards a cash prize of $2,000 to the graduating senior selected as the outstanding student in the creative and performing arts. Students do not apply directly for the award but rather are nominated by arts department chairs, who are invited to forward one nomination each.
This Award celebrates the memory of a much beloved Julia Wray who for many years was the leader and passionate protagonist for dance at Duke and in North Carolina. It is awarded to a faculty nominated senior who has shown outstanding leadership in our program. Award is $500.00 (nominated)
This Award, instituted in 2006 to honor this extraordinary performing artist, choreographer and teacher, recognizes the artistic and technical growth of a faculty nominated undergraduate sophomore or junior student who has the “potential to become a professional dancer, teacher, or choreographer.” Award is $500 (nominated)
The Dance Project Award is a competitive award presented annually. Two Dance Project Awards of $500 each are available to help defray expenses for dance studies, creative projects or research.
The Dance Writing Award, hosted by the Duke University Dance Program, is a competitive award presented annually. The Dance Writing Award recognizes the Duke University undergraduate who has written a paper demonstrating excellence in dance writing and has proven their ability to translate the movement text to the written word. Award is $500.
The Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Creative Writing was established by the family and friends of Anne Flexner, who graduated from Duke in 1945. There are two prizes: one for fiction and one for poetry. Contest is open to all Duke Undergraduates. Manuscripts should be double-spaced (5,000 word limit). The English Department’s Creative Writing Committee will judge the manuscripts.
The Reynolds Price Fiction Award was established in memory of the distinguished novelist, essayist, story-writer, poet and public intellectual, Reynolds Price, who was a graduate of Duke and taught in the English Department for over 50 years. Contest is open to all Duke Undergraduates. Manuscripts should be double-spaced (5,000 word limit). The English Department’s Creative Writing Committee will judge the manuscripts.
The Lucaci Award for Creative Nonfiction is funded by the Lucaci Endowment. Contest is open to all Duke Undergraduates. Submissions should be double-spaced (5,000 word limit). This should NOT be a critical essay, but creative nonfiction: nonfiction prose designed primarily to provide an aesthetic, emotional, and/or intellectual experience for the reader rather than to convey information or advance an argument. The English Department’s Creative Writing Committee will judge the creative nonfiction submissions.
The Terry Welby Tyler, Jr. & Lee Emerson Tyler Award for Poetry was established by the family of Terry Welby Tyler, Jr., who would have graduated with the class of 1997, to recognize and honor outstanding undergraduate poetry. Contest is open to all Duke Undergraduates. Poems may be single or double spaced; 200 line limit (may be one poem or a group of poems). The English Department’s Creative Writing Committee will judge.
In recognition of exceptional achievement in musical theater, this award is given annually to a Duke student or group of students, with preference given to graduating seniors. It recognizes accomplishments in musical theater by students in the Department of Theater Studies, the Department of Music, and the student-run musical theater group Hoof ‘n’ Horn.
This award is named for the distinguished founder of the Duke University Program in Drama, now the Department of Theater Studies. It recognizes a graduating senior who has made extraordinary contributions to the life of the department and who has exhibited outstanding personal and professional qualities. Faculty select the recipient.
This award is presented annually to a Duke undergraduate for the best original script for stage, screen, or television. Submit a finished full-length script to theater@duke.edu.
This award recognizes outstanding achievement in the study of dramatic literature and is presented annually to the undergraduate student writing the best essay in a course in dramatic literature. Student essays are nominated by Theater Studies faculty teaching undergraduate dramatic literature courses.
This award recognizes a Theater Studies student for excellence in directing, with preference given to a graduating senior.
This award recognizes a Theater Studies student for excellence in Acting, with preference given to a graduating senior.
This award recognizes a Theater Studies student for excellence in design or theater technology, with preference given to a graduating senior.
These awards, funded by the Alex Cohen Endowment and the Department of Theater Studies, support students’ individual or group projects that have both educational value and artistic merit. Applications should include (1) an application form, (2) a project description and statement of goals, and (3) one reference from a Theater Studies faculty (no letter required).
Undergraduate recipients of this award will have demonstrated outstanding commitment and leadership in playwriting; directing; scene, lighting, or costume design; choreography; or dramaturgy as well as demonstrating excellence in leveraging the power of theater as a collaborative art. Winners may use the award to attend high-level theater training, support summer theater projects, take an internship, or participate in other immersive theater experiences.
The Forlines Family Theater Studies fund supports internships for undergraduates in professional theater settings and other co-curricular experiences for theater students. The combination of academic coursework and hands-on learning is a hallmark of Duke’s approach to theater studies. Submit (1) an application form, (2) a project description and statement of goals, and (3) one reference from a Theater Studies faculty (no letter required).
This award provides support for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors to attend nationally and/or internationally recognized summer musical theater programs which provide high-level training in musical theater. Applications should include (1) an application form including a proposed budget, (2) a project description and statement of goals, and (3) one reference from a Theater Studies faculty (no letter required).
CDS and the Honickman Foundation, based in Philadelphia, concluded their mutually enriching and successful collaboration on the CDS/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography in 2017. The biennial prize, first conceived in 2000 by Lynne Honickman and CDS’s founding director, Iris Tillman Hill, was awarded to a total of eight photographers.
This $7,500 annual prize recognizes documentary films that combine originality and creativity with firsthand experience in examining central issues of contemporary life and culture. The award goes to filmmakers who best connect the power of the documentary tradition with community life, who best lead viewers to understand and reflect on themselves and the world portrayed.
The Lange-Taylor Prize is intended to support artists, working alone or in teams, who are engaged in extended, ongoing fieldwork projects that fully exploit the relationship of words and images in the powerful, persuasive representation of a subject. The prize is not awarded for completed projects or to support the production of a book, exhibit, website or other outcomes.
The winner receives $10,000, and is featured in CDS’s digital publications and included in the Archive of Documentary Arts at Rubenstein Library.
The award is meant to acknowledge curators’ contributions to the field ($5,000) and to provide a stipend to support the development of either an existing or imagined independent curatorial project ($5,000). The winner presents their work in a public talk at CDS the year following receipt of the award.
This annual award of $500 recognizes a graduating Duke senior who has demonstrated excellence in documentary studies and has significantly contributed to CDS programs and is given at the Trinity College Arts Award Ceremony during Commencement Weekend.
CDS makes these awards to undergraduates attending Triangle-area universities to help them conduct sustained work on summer-long documentary fieldwork projects. Student applicants should demonstrate an interest in documentary studies and possess the talent and skills necessary to conduct an intensive documentary project. These skills may include oral history, photography, film/video, nonfiction or creative writing, or audio.
These are one-time awards for graduate students working on seminar projects or dissertations on any aspect of women’s history, and undergraduates who are writing honors theses in History with priority consideration for those projects focused on women’s history. Undergraduate and graduate student projects will be evaluated separately. Applicants should include the name of a faculty member who can be contacted as a reference.
Duke’s Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program has travel grants available to full-time undergraduate and graduate students presenting at conferences related to the field of Asian American Studies. Awards for this competition will be in the amount of $500.
Duke undergraduates who are in their first or second year of study at the time of application, and who are enrolled in classes at Duke’s Durham campus are eligible to apply. Students with ALL backgrounds, experience and interests are encouraged to apply. Priority given to Ethics & Society Certificate students.
LAPI provides summer internship funding and experiential learning at the intersection of leadership and creativity. Leadership in Arts Policy interns complete a required gateway course in the spring (PUBPOL 213: Arts Policy, Leadership, and Engagement) and receive a $5000 stipend to support their summer internship.
The Rosati Creative Writing Prize is awarded each spring in recognition of an outstanding work of creative writing. All Duke first year or sophomore students are eligible to submit work for consideration. Projects may be any genre and take any form (audio/video, digital media, etc.), but must include a substantial creative writing component. Prize: $1500
The Global Student Research Fund supports the global learning, research and professional development of Duke students. Eligible students may apply for funding under one of four categories: Research Projects, Conference Presentations, Pre-Dissertation Travel or Summer Language Study. Funding is for graduate students only.
The goals of the Deans’ Summer Fellowship Program are to strengthen undergraduate research opportunities for undergraduates, to enlarge the scope of undergraduate research conducted on and off campus during the summer, and to provide support to enable undergraduates to extend the period over which they engage in research. An amount of up to $5000 will be awarded for the educational enrichment opportunities that participating in research provides.
The Graduate School provides financial support for advanced Ph.D. students who have passed all parts of the preliminary examination and are presenting a paper or poster at a regional, national, or international conference.
The award provides 70% of the total expense, or $525 for domestic and $700 for international travel, whichever is less. Students’ departments must commit to covering the remaining 30% of total expenses.
The Duke Career Center’s Internship Funding Program for Undergraduate Students is a summer program designed to help support Duke students in their educational pursuits while participating in internships within their related areas of study.
