The Creative Writing Honors Program, 2025-2026
Applications will be due Monday, September 22, 2025, at 12pm noon, and the final project will be due Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 12pm noon. Instructions for how to submit your application will be available soon.
Each year, the Creative Writing Program gives a small group of students the opportunity to write a creative thesis for consideration of Honors in English. The goal is for students to envision and complete a substantial creative project that serves as the capstone of their creative writing careers at Penn. Students wishing to undertake a creative writing thesis apply the fall semester of their senior year with a robust and substantive proposal that includes a writing sample and annotated bibliography. The writing sample can be (but is not required to be) the beginnings of the final thesis project. Students then complete the thesis as an independent study supervised by an advisor during the spring semester of their senior year.
The main body of the thesis consists of an extensive piece of creative writing: a novel or novel excerpt, collection of stories, collection of poems, long poem, play, screenplay, sequence of essays, long-form nonfiction, documentary nonfiction, photojournalism, creative monograph, etc. The thesis is prefaced by a substantive craft essay that describes the intellectual, theoretical, and/or aesthetic context or background to the work and offers a critical commentary on the procedure or methodology used to create the thesis.
Honors thesis projects in prose should be between 30,000 and 40,000 words long. Honors thesis projects in poetry should be at least 30 pages long. Projects in other genres should be of a length mutually agreed upon by student and advisor. The craft essay should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words long.
Admission to the Creative Writing Honors Program is selective. Successful thesis projects are conferred the distinction of Honors in English at graduation. Enrollment in the Honors Program does not guarantee that the final project will earn Honors. To merit this distinction, final theses must receive the enthusiastic approval of both the student’s thesis advisor and a committee of outside readers.
To get a sense of project possibilities, watch a recording of our 2022 thesis reading here or visit our honors thesis showcase.
Eligibility:
A student is eligible to apply to the Honors Program if they a) will be a senior in fall 2025; b) are declared as an English major with a concentration in creative writing; c) have a 3.6 or higher GPA in the major; and d) have taken one, and preferably two, workshops in the genre of their projected thesis. Students outside the creative writing concentration and students with a creative writing or journalistic writing minor will be considered on a case by case basis.
Steps to apply:
- Please first send an email to Dr. Julia Bloch with a brief description of your project. This will start the application process.
- On or before Monday, September 22, 2025, at 12pm noon, submit the following materials:
- A completed Creative Writing Honors Program Application Form.
- A 500-word proposal outlining the scope and ambitions of the project.
- A sample of writing of up to 15 pages in the genre of the proposed project.
- An annotated bibliography of at least 5 sources that inform your project: these can include primary text or media sources; secondary sources that provide context; or materials that otherwise inform your proposal, including literary and journalistic texts, films, artworks, performances, or other media. Annotations should be 1-5 sentences that briefly describe the source and its relationship to your project. Include full citations (in any style).
Writing the thesis:
Candidates will be notified of their application status before advance registration begins for the spring semester. During advance registration, candidates whose applications are approved will register for an independent study supervised by their thesis advisor. In late fall, candidates are required to attend an informational session with the Director of Creative Writing, at which we will discuss deadlines and tools for completing the thesis. By the beginning of the spring semester, candidates should plan to send the beginnings of a draft to their advisors so that they can pace themselves during the thesis writing term and meet the final April deadline.
The final draft of the Honors thesis is due Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 12pm noon. Each thesis is read by both the thesis advisor and at least one additional reader, both of whom must agree with the student's advisor before conferring Honors on the project.
The spring independent study is subject to the same terms as any other course, including drop and withdrawal deadlines.
Final projects that do not receive Honors are still eligible for course credit.
If you would like to discuss your candidacy for Honors or have questions about your project, please contact Dr. Julia Bloch.
For information on writing a critical thesis in English, visit the English Department website.