How to apply:

  • To apply for a bursary or scholarship, please include a letter of intent with your program application materials. This letter of intent may include an explanation of how attending Sage Hill would benefit you as a writer, and how receiving a bursary would reduce any barriers to attending.
  • Bursaries are awarded to those whose letters clearly demonstrate financial need.

Scholarships and bursaries are made available through the generosity of people who believe in Sage Hill. To help writers develop their craft, visit Support Sage Hill.

Poetry Colloquium Award

WYN LILBURN MEMORIAL BURSARY
($500)

This bursary will be awarded in years that the Spring Poetry Colloquium is offered to a worthy participant who has demonstrated financial need. The bursary is offered in memory of Wyn Lilburn by her son, Tim Lilburn.

Awards for All Courses

EMERGING WRITERS’ BURSARIES – Gary Hyland Literary Scholarship Fund
(Four $250 bursaries will be awarded in 2024)

The Gary Hyland Literary Scholarship Fund at the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation is an endowment fund in honour of Gary and his arts activism in Saskatchewan and his hometown of Moose Jaw. The Fund is intended to support emerging writers to develop their craft through such means as workshops or training. The bursary will be awarded to an emerging writer, or writers, to assist in attending Sage Hill’s summer session with preference given to candidates who are Moose Jaw residents.

The late Gary Hyland spent thirty years as a master teacher, sharing his love of literature with high school students, earning a Hilroy Fellowship, the Joe Duffy Memorial Award and the Marshall McLuhan Distinguished Teacher Award for his innovative practices and his excellence in teaching English. He was a dedicated volunteer with numerous provincial volunteer awards, plus an honorary degree from the University of Regina, and the Order of Canada. Gary was an editor and an author, as well as a founding member of Coteau Books, Moose Jaw Arts in Motion, Sage Hill Writing Experience, and Saskatchewan Festival of Words.

Sage Hill Writing gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Gary Hyland Literary Scholarship Fund at the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation. SSCF is a public foundation serving the people of South Saskatchewan. The Foundation builds permanently endowed charitable funds for the changing needs and opportunities of the community and provides grants to eligible charitable organizations in culture, health, education, environment, recreation and social service sectors.

KROETSCH BURSARY
($300)

This bursary is awarded to a writer in any genre. Offered in memory of Robert Kroetsch.

Robert Kroestch was born in Alberta. During his life he lived in and travelled to many places yet always provided a perspective and commentary on his home province. After completing his English and Philosophy degree at the University of Alberta, Kroestch worked in the Canadian North. Following this he completed his Master’s degree and PhD in the United States, met his first wife, and helped raise their two daughters. A professor first at Binghamton University then at the University of Manitoba, Kroestch continued to write and publish wherever he was. Retiring – from teaching, though not from writing – Kroestch returned to Alberta and died in a car accident at 83 years old on his way home after a literary festival. He won numerous awards throughout his life including the Office of the Order of Canada, the Killam Award, and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for The Studhorse Man.

JOAN STOICHEFF MEMORIAL BURSARY
($200)

This bursary is awarded to a worthy writer in any genre. Offered in memory of long-time supporter Joan Stoicheff.

BLACK EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP
($300)
This scholarship aims to make Sage Hill accessible to a writer who would not otherwise be able to attend. It is open to writers interested in one of the adult courses who require financial assistance and self-identify as being Black, African, or of Caribbean heritage. Funded by the Saskatchewan Network for Art Collecting, Black History Month Art Auction.

SHARON DRUMMOND MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
($750)

This scholarship will be granted to an emerging poet who is a participant in the Poetry Course and is offered in memory of Calgary poet Sharon Drummond by her family.

SAGE HILL ALUMNI BURSARY PROGRAM

This program provides an opportunity for alumni and friends to make ongoing or one-time contributions to support other writers in attending programs. Donors suggest the preferences for their bursaries. To contribute a bursary, contact us.

  • INDIGENOUS WRITERS BURSARY ($200)

This bursary is awarded to a writer in any genre, with preference given to a self-identified First Nations, Métis, or Inuit individual. Offered anonymously.

  • SAGE HILL ALUMNI BURSARY ($300)

This bursary supports participation in a spring or summer course, with preference given to an Indigenous writer. Offered by an anonymous Sage Hill alum.

  • SASKATCHEWAN WRITERS BURSARY ($200)

This bursary is awarded to a writer in any genre, with preference given to a resident of Saskatchewan. Offered anonymously.

For Saskatchewan writers

PADDY O’ROURKE SCHOLARSHIP
(AWARDS WILL TOTAL $3000 IN 2025)

The Paddy O’Rourke Scholarship was established in 2018 in honour of Patrick (Paddy) O’Rourke, a teacher, literary editor, mentor and prominent friend of Saskatoon’s and Saskatchewan’s arts community.

The scholarship is intended to support the development of young writers in Saskatchewan. It will be awarded to an emerging writer, or writers, attending a Sage Hill program. Preference is given to candidates who are poets and recent high-school graduates.

Sage Hill Writing gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the donors who have made such a generous scholarship possible.

———-Click here to learn more about Paddy———-

Paddy was born in 1943 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland and grew up on the farm that has been in the family for generations. A talented student, he attended the National University of Ireland (Dublin) 1964-68, receiving a B.A. and a Higher Diploma in Education. After moving to Canada, he earned a B.Ed and post-graduate diploma from the University of Saskatchewan.

Paddy emigrated to Canada in 1968 to teach high school English in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. He then taught at Swift Current Comprehensive High School, and then moved to Saskatoon in 1975 to teach at Evan Hardy Collegiate; prior to his retirement, he taught at Walter Murray Collegiate. He became a Canadian citizen and lived on his acreage south of Saskatoon, indulging his passion for horticulture, until his passing in 2017. 

As an educator, he was an advisor and board member with various professional organizations including the Saskatchewan English Teachers’ Association, Canadian Council of Teachers of English, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation, and Saskatoon Board of Education. In the 1980s and ’90s, he presented papers and workshops throughout Saskatchewan on Canadian Literature in the Secondary High School Curriculum. He was a sessional lecturer at the College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, from 1975 to 1997.

A talented actor, Paddy performed in little theatre groups in Swift Current and Saskatoon, and was one of the four members and creative collaborators of Prairie Brew, a stage performance celebrating Prairie writers. In addition, he performed in audio drama productions for CJUS radio, and narrated the film The New Canadians. 

Many came to know Paddy through his role as shareholder and editor-in-chief of Thistledown Press, a national literary publisher based in Saskatoon. During this time, he participated in numerous meetings and activities related to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and other provincial and national arts organizations such as the Literary Press Group and Association of Canadian Publishers. He co-edited a series of anthologies: Dancing Visions (contemporary Canadian poetry); The Last Map is the Heart (contemporary western Canadian fiction); Coming of Age: Fictions for a New Century (international fiction); Something to Declare: An Anthology of International Literature for Secondary Schools, Oxford University Press; and Contents Three.

After retiring from teaching, Paddy was instrumental in establishing professional development programs and relationships with post-secondary institutions in the UK, on behalf of England’s largest privately-held construction company, Laing O’Rourke.

Those who knew Paddy admired him for his brilliant mind, passion for the arts, and commitment – both within the classroom and beyond – to the education of our youth. The Paddy O’Rourke Poetry Scholarship honours his achievements and dedication, in the hope that his life will be an inspiration for generations to come.

W.O. MITCHELL BURSARY
($500)

This bursary is awarded to a writer wishing to attend a Summer Course or Colloquium, offered by the Saskatoon Branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. Duties of the successful applicant may include assisting with the facilitation of reading events.

Known as Canada’s Mark Twain, W. O. Mitchell was born in Weyburn Saskatchewan. As a Canadian writer and broadcaster, Mitchell’s work often depicted prairie life. Best known for his novel, Who Has Seen the Wind and for his radio series, Jake and the Kid, he was also a high school teacher, a creative writing professor, and founded the creative writing program at the Banff Centre. Mitchell was awarded five doctorates from Canadian universities, became an officer of the Order of Canada, was a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, and has two schools named after him in his honour. He’s one of Canada’s best storytellers, and, like Tommy Douglas, everyone prairie person has a Bill Mitchell story.

JOHN V. HICKS SCHOLARSHIP
($300)

This scholarship is awarded to a Saskatchewan writer through the generosity of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, in honour of the late John V. Hicks, former Poet Laureate of Prince Albert, for his contributions and years of service to the literary arts.

John V. Hicks’ parents immigrated to Canada from England when their son was just an infant. Settling in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan as a professional accountant, Hicks did not publish his first of nine books until 1978, decades after working on his poetry craft. An artistic mentor at the Prince Albert Arts Centre, his dedication to the arts was recognized with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan, awarded with the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and honoured with the lifetime award for excellence from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

JERRY RUSH SCHOLARSHIP
($200)

This scholarship is offered to Saskatchewan candidates between 19 and 24 years of age who show skills in writing poetry and donated by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild in honour of the late Jerry Rush, a beloved poet and teacher.

Born in Saskatchewan, Jerry Rush was a poet, teacher, editor, and member of The Correction Line, a Regina writing group. Rush published two books in the 1980’s Earth Dreams and The Bones of Their Occasion, shortly before he lost his battle to cancer in 1986.

Other funding sources

National support – Open to all writers across Canada
Saskatchewan support – Open to Saskatchewan writers
Support in other provinces: