Summer Professional Development Awards
Summer 2025
Each year, Literary Careers invites all undergraduate concentrators, potential concentrators, and graduate students in the Harvard English Department to apply for this award, which supports students' internships and professional development projects. Award recipients receive up to $2000 per summer and serve as Professional Development Mentors for their peers in English during the academic year. They play a valuable role in creating a community dedicated to professional development within the English Department. Since Literary Careers launched this award in 2022, we have supported over 50 students’ summer professional development.
Literary Careers is directed by graduate students, and as such all LC operations are suspended until the resolution of the current strike. LC will accept applications following the resolution of the strike, and will consider applications from students who have already begun their summer 2026 work at that time.
How & When to Submit
For Summer 2025, we are only reading one round of applications. The deadline for all applications is May 20, and all recipients will be notified of their awards by June 30. Graduate students should email their applications to Stephanie Balakrishnan (sbalakrishnan@fas.harvard.edu), and undergraduate applicants should email Emily Miller (emily_miller@fas.harvard.edu). Please put all of the components of your application in one PDF file, and save the file as: last name-first name-LCSummerAward.
What qualifies as an "internship" for this award?
An internship is an opportunity to work with an established organization or mentor to learn about their field and contribute to their work product. Internships are usually publicly advertised by the host organization and come along with a set of tasks or goals that the host organization defines. If you are accepted to an internship, you should be able to provide Literary Careers with an acceptance letter from the host organization or confirmation from your mentor.
What qualifies as a "professional development project"?
For the purposes of this award, eligible professional development projects will be just as well defined as internships. They should have a clear list of tasks and goals, an expected work product, a schedule, and a clear mentor or supervisor. The difference between an internship and a professional development project (again, for the purposes of this award) is that a student may propose their project idea to a mentor, whereas an established organization or mentor will usually advertise an internship role to a student.
Literary Careers is including “professional development projects” under award’s funding umbrella because careers in the humanities – creative careers in particular – often require individuals to set their own goals, create their own timelines, and secure their own mentors. Our goal is to support students in learning how to organize their own professional development projects, and as such, the reading committee may ask some applicants to revise & resubmit their applications if they have yet to envision a clear timeline, work product, and set of goals and tasks. All students with a project idea are welcome to reach out to Literary Careers if you would like some help identifying a faculty or alumni mentor before the application deadline.
Application Components
The core of the application is a short essay (500 words) describing the summer internship or project you wish to pursue. Please explain how this opportunity will contribute to your long-term career goals or the process of exploring different career fields. Successful applications will also identify aspects of this professional development opportunity which you anticipate will expand the ways of thinking, subject-area expertise, and skills that you have developed in the Harvard English Department. If you are a graduate student, please explain if and how your summer work relates to your teaching experience, research interests, and desired career path.
All essays should include a cover page identifying your name, Harvard ID number, class year, departmental affiliations, senior thesis or dissertation title (if any), classes taught (if any), a one-sentence description of your internships, and whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student.
Your application package should also include one of the following:
Proof of your acceptance to your internship.
OR
- If you are applying to fund a professional development project, please provide a timeline for your proposed project and a letter from your mentor, confirming their involvement. Your project must involve some degree of professional mentorship.
Applicants are required to submit an informal budget reporting your anticipated expenses—as well as any salary, scholarship, aid, or other financial assistance that you have received to pursue your summer work. We are aware that many literary careers require students to obtain professional experiences and certifications with no remuneration. In keeping with our department’s commitment to diversity & inclusion, the Literary Careers Program is eager to fund students in financial need, who would not be able to pursue their professional development opportunities without aid.
Last, all applicants are advised, but not required, to submit one letter of recommendation from a faculty member, TF, or professional mentor who can speak to the ways in which your summer work will build upon your intellectual passions. It will not count against you if you are not able to secure a letter before our deadline.
Fall Professional Development Activities
In the fall, award recipients will serve as Professional Development Mentors for their peers. In this role, students will share their internship experiences with the department at the annual Literary Careers Professional Development Symposium. You will also meet with the department Chair and Literary Careers team, to report which events and resources you feel would be most helpful to aid your and your peers’ professional development within your field of interest. The Literary Careers Program will consider your experiences when designing new career support resources for the department.
Award recipients must also write a short (1000 word) personal essay, which will be published on the department website. Undergraduate students will work with a graduate student mentor to edit this essay.
Finally, all recipients must fill out a short survey, telling us about how your training in English prepared you for your summer work. This survey will invite you to tell us about the skills and classes that our department might have offered to prepare you for the summer work you undertook.
Questions?
Please email Katherine Horgan (khorgan@g.harvard.edu) with any questions about this award or to connect you with a Professional Development Mentor in your field. Alternatively, read through our 2022 Mentors' essays for inspiration and information about their fields.