In 2017, the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival created a memorial scholarship for one of our inspiring young writers, Victoria Brooks. As a senior at Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, Victoria published a book of her poems, What You Weren't Told. In May of 2016, she was invited to present as a featured teen author at the Eleventh Annual Teen Book Festival, where she presented her poetry, as part of the Teen Author Panel. Victoria was pursuing a degree at Canisius College and still actively publishing her writing when she passed away in November, 2016.

The Victoria Brooks Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a teen who demonstrates passion and shows promise as an emerging writer. It includes a one-year student membership to Rochester’s Writers & Books, along with a $250 certificate to apply towards teen writing workshops at Writers & Books. One teen will be selected and announced at an awards ceremony in May 2020.

Scholarship Criteria:

1. Applicant must be between 11 to 18 years old at the time the application is submitted.
2. Applicant must be able to commit to the selected Writers & Books workshops of his/her choice within one year of the award.
3. The work submitted must be original and must reflect a clear voice and point of view. All styles and themes accepted.

Required Application Materials:

• A letter of application (1-2 pages, typed; 500 word count maximum) stating their writing goals and how this scholarship will help further their plans.
• A sample of writing (3,000 word count maximum/15 pages maximum). The sample may include both published and unpublished work. The sample may also include current work-in-progress.
• All application materials must be finalized and accurate before submitting.
• Please be sure to appropriately label or title individual pieces submitted as part of the collection.

Grading Rubric

Applications cannot be edited or resubmitted once you've applied. Applications may be submitted electronically or by mail. To be considered, the application must be either postmarked by January 25th or received electronically by 5:00pm, January 31st.

All materials should be addressed and sent to:
Mrs. Sara Kimmel , Chair Victoria Brooks Scholarship
c/o Rush-Henrietta Senior High School Library
1799 Lehigh Station Rd
Henrietta, NY 14467

Email: tbfvbscholarship@gmail.com

Review Process:

• The review committee is accepting a maximum of 100 applications for the 2018/2019 award cycle.
• There will be five independent reviews of the teen’s submission.
• Each reader will score the teen’s work using the scholarship criteria (The evaluation rubric the committee uses in evaluating an author’s work is found at the end of this application).
• The teen’s work must receive a minimal average score of 85 or above from the independent/blind reviews to make it to the final evaluation round.
• Those projects which receive a rating of 85 or above will be re-read and scored using the same criteria. At the same time, the reader will also rank the applications in the order of overall excellence. All scores are submitted directly to the VBS Chair.
• The full review committee will meet to determine the annual winner of the scholarship. The VBS Chair will be an impartial member of this committee and will serve to keep a record of the review process.

Announcement of the Annual Victoria Brooks Scholarship Winner

Finalists for the award will be notified in writing by 5:00pm on March 30th. The winner will be announced during a private GRTBF awards ceremony in May 2019.

Questions regarding this scholarship and the application should be directed to Mrs. Kimberly Rouleau. You may contact her via email: vbscholarship@teenbookfest.org

Victoria Brooks Scholarship Committee Members
The Victoria Brooks Scholarship Committee is comprised of five voting members and the VBS Chair (non-voting). The committee will also include a VBMS Chair (non-voting) and either one member from the GRTBF Board of Directors or a member of the TBF Annual Event Planning Committee. In addition, during any given review cycle, the committee will include the following
members:

• One additional member from the TBF Planning Committee
• One additional member from the WAB staff
• A Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival Board Director
• A former teen recipient of the Victorica Brooks Scholarship award
• A community member with special interest and/or expertise in young adult literature and young adult writers