Grants and Writing Resources for the University of Wisconsin–Madison
In April 2026 three UW–Madison juniors won Goldwater Scholarships. One, a wildlife ecology major, studies invasive zooplankton in lakes and forest owls in the Sierra Nevada. A neurobiology major researches the cellular causes of neurodegeneration, and a mechanical engineering major asks whether planets orbiting white dwarf stars could support habitable conditions. In September, 16 Badgers received Fulbright U.S. Student awards for 2026–2027.
Research Fellowships and the Symposium
The Undergraduate Academic Awards Office handles campuswide research fellowships along with national scholarships, and its advisers review scholarship essays and prepare students for interviews. The Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship goes to about 95 to 100 students a year with at least junior standing. Each receives a $4,000 stipend for a project with a UW–Madison faculty or staff mentor, and the mentor gets $1,000 for research costs.
Younger students have an entry point. The campuswide awards list includes a Sophomore Research Fellowship with a $3,000 stipend, and the Holstrom Environmental Research Fellowship pays $4,000 for collaborative work in an environmental field. Each spring the Undergraduate Symposium is open to all undergraduates for posters, talks, art, demonstrations, films and performances. Almost 700 students took part in the last one.
Prizes for Essays, Poems and Stories
English courses feed a set of essay prizes on the department's scholarships and awards page. Two James T. Lewis Prizes of $125 each go to the best essays by first-year students in an English course. The William F. Vilas Prizes, $200 and $100, take essays from English 245 and courses at the 300 level and above, and the Standish Henning Shakespeare Prize pays $100 for the best essay from English 431 or 432. A senior thesis chapter with exceptional writing and analysis can win the $1,000 McMynn Williams Senior Thesis Award.
The Creative Writing program runs its undergraduate contests by genre. The Henry Douglas Mackaman Undergraduate Writer's Award pays $1,000 for the best short story by a sophomore, junior or senior. Any undergraduate may submit three poems for the Phillip H. Wang Memorial Prize in Poetry. The $2,500 Johanna Garfield Award in Nonfiction Creative Writing is open to graduate students as well.
Graduate Grants and Fellowships
Doctoral candidates and final-year master's students can apply to the Graduate School's Student Research Grants Competition for travel to present at a conference or to do research for a dissertation, thesis or final exhibition. Awards are $600 or $1,500, depending on qualifying expenses. Most students receive these funds once in their graduate career.
Graduate programs award the university's merit fellowships, so students ask their program about them. For outside money, the Graduate School's Funding Forward program runs grant-writing workshops, writing groups and one-on-one consultations, with information sessions on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship. Doctoral students in the biological and physical sciences can also enter the WISL Award for Communicating PhD Research to the Public, listed on the Graduate School's dissertation help page; entrants refine a chapter with a chemistry professor and a professional editor, and successful entries receive $250.
The Writing Center and the Dissertation
The Writing Center in 6171 Helen C. White Hall books in-person sessions, virtual meetings and written feedback through its online scheduler, and evening satellites run Sundays through Wednesdays at six campus locations. Its Writer's Handbook covers academic writing, grammar and citation.
PhD candidates with an approved proposal, at least one drafted chapter and an adviser's approval can apply for the Dissertation Writing Camp. Each week-long camp takes up to 20 dissertators, who write at least five hours a day and meet one-to-one with Writing Center instructors.
The Graduate School's doctoral guide sets the format: margins of at least one inch, type of at least 12 points and double-spaced main text, in a single PDF. After a $90 deposit fee, the dissertation is uploaded through ProQuest/UMI, and once the Graduate School approves it no changes can be made. The university's Dissertations policy requires each dissertation to acknowledge contributions received from other individuals, including help with "writing, proofing, or copyediting the manuscript."
Our editors check essays, theses and dissertations for grammar, consistency and format in a final edit, and dissertators acknowledge that copyediting in the dissertation, as UW–Madison policy requires. See our University of Wisconsin–Madison dissertation and thesis editing and University of Wisconsin–Madison essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your UW–Madison writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.