Grants and Writing Resources for Bradley University

At least five of the 27 films in the November 2025 Big Picture Peoria Film Festival carried work by Bradley students, written, animated and edited by individuals and by teams. In October 2025 Bradley reported that the Lincoln Academy of Illinois had named a Bradley senior with a double major in management and leadership and marketing as one of its 50 Student Laureates for the Class of 2025, an honor that came with a Lincoln medallion and a $1,000 grant.

The Expo and Travel Awards

Undergraduate and graduate students show their research, scholarship and creative work at the annual Student Scholarship Expo. Each presenter stands with a poster and gives a five- to ten-minute talk to a panel of volunteer judges from Bradley and the local community. The judges score the poster's organization, the public speaking, and how clearly the student explains the project to a general audience. Awards go to the strongest posters, and cash prizes recognize the best presentations in each discipline.

Any degree-seeking Bradley student accepted to present at a refereed or juried conference can apply through Bradley's internal grant programs for a Student Travel Award of up to $500, with an endorsement from a faculty member.

Writing Prizes and Broadside

The English department runs four writing contests. The Edgar L. Chapman Critical Essay Award pays $1,000 for an essay written for an undergraduate literature course, and faculty make the nominations. The Dr. Robert DeGise Professional Writing Award, endowed in 1996 as a memorial to the Americans who fought at Iwo Jima, pays $1,000 each year for the best professional or business writing proposal. Poets have two chances: the Kevin Stein Academy of American Poets Prize for a single poem, and the Chester Sipple Poetry Award for a set of five.

Students edit and produce Broadside, which prints poetry, fiction, plays, screenplays and creative nonfiction alongside photography, painting and drawing. The spring journal runs more than 100 pages in four color. A 16-page fall issue, three Broadsheet posters and public readings fill out the year, and any current Bradley student can join the staff.

Graduate Fellowships and Assistantships

Master's students committed to research and creative production can apply for the Caterpillar Masters Fellowship. The application centers on a one- to two-page proposal that names a specific research problem or creative activity, backed by recommendation letters from the faculty sponsor and the program coordinator. The 2023-24 graduate catalog lists the award as tuition aid for up to 21 semester hours a year plus a stipend. Fellows study full time and finish the project with a faculty mentor within two years, and a second year depends on a competitive renewal that includes presenting at the Graduate Student Expo.

The same catalog describes graduate assistantships. Full-time assistants receive a 100 percent tuition reduction on qualifying courses and half-time assistants 50 percent, with a stipend that varies by department.

Help With Writing and Theses

The Bradley Writing Center is free to undergraduates and graduate students. Writing Consultants work in Rooms 311 and 312 of the Academic Success Center, on the third floor of the Cullom-Davis Library, and on Google Meet, in sessions of 30 or 60 minutes. They take lab reports, scholarship essays, STEM writing and group projects, along with MLA, APA and Chicago formatting. Drafts can also go in without an appointment through Assistance by Email, and feedback usually comes back in 24 to 48 hours. Online nursing graduate students get writing support through Brainfuse.

Master's theses follow the Graduate Education Thesis Guide of February 2025. It sets one-inch margins and embedded fonts, places the signed committee approval page right after the title page, and refers students to ProQuest's formatting guidelines. Bradley theses and dissertations are held in the library's ProQuest Thesis and Dissertation database, with full text from fall 2012 forward.

Bradley writers with a finished thesis, proposal or paper can send it to our editors for a final edit of grammar, consistency and format. See our Bradley University dissertation and thesis editing and Bradley University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Write a Literature Essay: Mastering Close Reading
• Methodology Chapter Secrets: Building the Architecture of Your Argument
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit