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Scholarships are available for the

24th Annual James River Writers Conference,

September 25 – 27, 2026

Application Deadline: July 15, 2026

Have you been dabbling with writing for years, and you’re ready to take your skills to the next level?

Are you looking for a community to cheer your successes and commiserate when slinging words gets hard?

Do you already know the benefits of attending a conference just for writers, but it’s out of reach financially?

Then a James River Writers conference scholarship might be for you!

JRW is committed to supporting our literary community through needs-based scholarships. You can use the form (button below) to apply for any of the following:

• A 2-Day, in-person conference scholarship
• A 1-Day, in-person conference scholarship (choose Saturday or Sunday)
• A Scholarship to participate in one or more of our online Master Classes (you can indicate which Master Classes you are interested in on the application)

The application is short answer, and you can click on the form to view the questions without applying. You are not required to be professionally published, write for a certain audience or genre, or be a JRW member to apply for a scholarship. We are looking for people who can tell us why a scholarship will be of benefit and why being a part of this community is exciting to them. (Put your writing skills to good use!)

We have put suggested word limits on each answer on the application, but we’re equally happy with shorter answers if they get your points across. Don’t feel like you have to pad your replies to get to the word count, but we do appreciate well-thought-out responses, and complete sentences help your case.

We look forward to getting to know you!

Please complete the application by midnight July 15, 2026, so that we can notify applicants of the results before the end of July. If you’re wondering if you should give it a try, you should!

Regarding An Agent Appointment

The form will ask if you’re interested in meeting one-on-one with an agent. The sooner you turn in your application, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to get your first choice for an agent. If you’re not interested in meeting with an agent, then it doesn’t matter when you turn in your application, as long as it’s in by midnight July 15.