COLUMBIA, S.C. (August 5, 2025) — In 2023, we awarded three full scholarships. In 2025, we’ll award nine! Though the number is small, this is a huge victory for all of us and speaks to the great work our fellows and graduates are doing in the world.
Starting from our second year in 2014, folks we call Tribe Uncles/Aunties started donating a scholarship. However, the tradition of calling this the Big Homie Scholarship came about when graduate fellows soon took on this mantle. Without announcing it or even understanding what was happening, a fellow or graduate fellow would win an award or get a boost, and then reach back to fund a new fellow. Over the years, the pattern informed the name.
Everyday we see the work of our Fellows reverberate throughout the literary world.
In 2022, we received an e-mail from a graduate fellow saying that they wanted to establish a scholarship specifically for a Charlotte poet. That birthed the Super Dope Poet Scholarships for a Charlotte poet and for a South Carolina poet.
In 2023, we officially renamed all of these scholarships so that they would have gravitas on a CV. They became the Tribe Sankofa Scholarship and the Griot Scholarships. In 2024, we were able to add two Amazon Literary Scholarships to that list. And this year, 2025, we are adding 4 more Amazon Literary Scholarships.
Though times are uncertain, we’ll continue to do what we can to gain more support for our Tribe. Everyday we see the work of our Fellows reverberate throughout the literary world. We are honored to support the journey of writers attending our Winter and Summer Retreats.