The UMBC Public Stories Lab is thrilled to announce the launch of their Storytelling Scholarships for the 2025-2026 academic year.
The application, which can be accessed here, is intended for UMBC students (both undergraduate and graduate) to apply for a $500 scholarship to support storytelling research and praxis. The deadline to submit for the 2025-2026 academic year is Friday, October 17th; scholarship recipients will be contacted if further information about their project is requested and final scholarship decisions will be made by November 15th. Please share widely with those in your UMBC networks!
The Public Stories Lab engages and supports a broad variety of public storytelling research and praxis. We encourage applications from students across UMBC colleges (COEIT, CNMS, CAHSS, Social Work, Erickson School) and campuses (UMBC Catonsville, Shady Grove). Projects might include digital storytelling, podcasting, story mapping, oral histories, immersive storytelling, public storytelling performances, oral storytelling traditions, visual storytelling (animation, comics, zines), data stories, and more!
Scholarship recipients will be expected to attend one mentoring session with PSL mentors and other scholarship recipients and share their storytelling project (finished or in progress) at the PSL Storytelling Mini-Fest at the end of the Spring 2026 semester. The Public Stories Lab (PSL) is a collaborative and innovative hub for faculty, students, and staff to co-construct knowledge and to bring relationships and stories to the center of research and pedagogy; proposals for this scholarship should align with the mission of the PSL.
If you have any questions before you submit, please email Charlotte Keniston ckenist1@umbc.edu, or Sarah Jewett sjewett@umbc.edu.