Young Writers Cohort Application
Heroine Pen





Are you a high school student who is devoted to improving your craft and want to find others like you? If so, the Young Writers Cohort at Hugo House was established with you in mind!

The Young Writers Cohort is an 8-month commitment that lasts throughout the school year. This allows more serious writers the time to think deeply and focus on their writing, while also building community as a supportive and educational cohort of aspiring young writers.

Cohort members meet every other week with each other and their instructor to learn, practice, and grow as a writing community. This program offers an MFA-like experience, in which members devote 80+ hours over the course of 8 months to workshopping, studying contemporary literature, submitting work to literary presses and journals, and attending readings and events. The Cohorts are responsible for promoting and emceeing Stage Fright, our open mic event for youth, and supporting other youth initiatives at Hugo House and in the Seattle arts community.
Cohort members are selected based on a written application and a writing sample. There is no application fee or tuition involved! We are looking for youth who have a strong commitment to writing and who have a desire to work in a collaborative team environment. No prior experience in a similar program is needed. The application is open to writers of all interests in creative writing, levels of experience, and backgrounds. In addition, the Young Writer’s Cohort actively seeks out youth who represent diverse and/or unique voices, and we highly encourage youth to apply whose voices are often underrepresented in mainstream media.
Commitment Requirements:
  • Be a writer: Spend 8 months writing and revising new work, attending readings and events, researching literary journals and presses, and more.
  • Be present: Attend biweekly Cohort meetings after school. Build community with the other young writers in your Cohort and with young writers/artists in the local community by participating in events.
  • Be a community leader: Attend and emcee Stage Fright open mic nights, read your work at literary events, attend other youth and/or literary arts events in your area.
  • Be committed to your Cohort throughout the school year. Show up, participate, and have fun!

Applications open: August 3, 2022
Applications due: September x, 2022

This is an unpaid humanities-focused volunteer opportunity. Participation can be used as a personal or academic project. For any questions, please email youth@hugohouse.org.

School you'll be attending this Fall

Level of grade you are entering this fall

Cohort focus:

The 2022-2023 school year is offering three different Cohorts to which you may apply:

The Poetry Cohort is for Seattle-area aspiring poets who want to deepen their poetic skills and build community with each other while learning about both writing itself and all the other things that go into being a working writer. The Poetry Cohort will begin the 2022-2023 school year online using Zoom, but hopes to transition to in-person meetings in January 2023, pending the local status of Covid-19.

The Prose Cohort isn't just a place to write fiction/nonfiction, but conduct wild literary experiments, play in a creative space, and take comfort in a small literary community. The Prose Cohort will begin the 2022-2023 school year online using Zoom, but hopes to transition to in-person meetings in January 2023, pending the local status of Covid-19.

The Online Cohort is open to writers who want to explore various forms of creative writing including fiction, poetry, memoir, and hybrid forms. This Cohort will meet on Zoom throughout the Cohort year and is specifically for writers who live outside of the Seattle area and/or are unable to meet in-person.

You may mark all genres that you are interested in.

Student Address

Parent/Guardian Information (*if different than student address)

Help us get to know you! 

Help us get to know you! (500 word maximum)

What are your goals as a writer? What do you hope to achieve? Tell us how we can support you! (500 words max)

How do you manage your time? What might prevent you from meeting this commitment? Most importantly: what do you do when you've made a commitment and find you can't meet it? (500 word maximum)

Please submit your strongest work of 5 pages or less. We will not read over 5 pages. Prose samples can be an excerpt from a longer piece. Creative nonfiction is acceptable, however, please do not send nonfiction essays.
Thanks for filling out this application!

Please click the Submit button below when you're done!