Xeric Foundation--Self-Publishing Comic Book Creators--up to $5,000

The Xeric Foundation was founded by Peter A. Laird, best known for creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. According to Xeric Foundation's website, "The Xeric Foundation has awarded in excess of $2,000,000 to comic book creators and non-profit organizations since its first grant cycle in September 1992."

Peter Laird's foundation helps to fund self-published comic books. If you're interested in art or graphic novels, then you might want to check out the information.

Grants usually don't exceed $5,000 and the next grant deadline is September 30, 2009.

http://www.xericfoundation.org/index.html

In searching for this grant, I found the following scholarship, The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, open to college students in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico in their Junior and Senior academic year. You send 5 examples of your cartooning artwork. The deadline was February 9, 2009; even though the deadline has passed, you can created a file for such scholarships or bookmark the website.

http://www.reuben.org/ncsf/scholarship/

Then, the next time December 2009 comes around, you can see whether the website has been updated with information for 2010.

Many people will claim that people should be practical and get a practical job, but such grants and scholarships above are given to encourage people to follow their dreams.

Schools often test and emphasize linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, failing to encourage other intelligences, such as spatial (artistic) or musical intelligence. (For an explanation of Howard Gardner and his theory of multiple intelligences, you can check out these two websites: http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm and http://www.howardgardner.com/FAQ/faq.htm )

What got me on this kick anyway?

I've been relistening to Brian Tracy's The Ultimate Goals Program on audio tapes. The lettering in white on those tapes is smearing and hard to read.

Anyway, Tracy mentioned Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences, and the point above is a paraphrase of one of Tracy's points. And I remembered that I had seen something about the Xeric Foundation and its grants to self-published comic book publishers when I was checking out Foundation Grants to Individuals, which I found in the Nashville Public Library.

This blog entry has gotten too long.

Other resources mentioned in this entry.

Brian Tracy's Ultimate Goals Program: http://www.nightingale.com/prod_detail~product~Ultimate_Goals_Program.aspx
Brian Tracy's book about Goals, Goals!: http://tinyurl.com/kshmcz

Foundation Grants to Individuals, published by the Foundation Center, and found in "funding information libraries" around the country. See if such a library is close to you: http://foundationcenter.org/collections/

Scholarship Deadlines Approach--$25,500 Potential Money

Over the last two months, I have written several posts about scholarships and opportunities. The deadlines are approaching, so I thought I would list the most current scholarship deadlines along with the money amounts.

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/07/howcast-how-to-video-challenge-2000.html
HowCast How-To Video Challenge
Amount: $2,000 Deadline: July 28, 2009

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/07/9000-fastwebs-scholarship-triathalon.html
FastWeb's World Shortest Essay Contest
Amount: $1,500 Deadline: July 31, 2009

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/07/resolve-to-evolve-essay-scholarship-5.html
Scholarships.Com's Resolve to Evolve Essay Scholarship
Amount: $1,000 Deadline: July 31, 2009

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/06/three-scholarships-to-pay-your-way-and.html
Gen and Kelly Tanabe $1,000 Scholarship
Amount: $1,000 Deadline: July 31, 2009

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/06/fifteen-thousand-dollars-for-thee-yes.html
Tea Council of the USA's Benefits of Tea Video Competition
Amount: $15,000 Deadline: Aug 2, 2009

http://scholarshipman.blogspot.com/2009/06/write-for-dr-seuss-get-5000-for-your.html
Dr. Seuss's 2010 Oh! The Places You'll Go! College Scholarship Program
Amount: $5,000 Deadline: Feb 15, 2010

Actually, FastWeb's Shortest Essay Contest is most likely the easiest to complete. Second easiest would be Gen and Kelly Tanabe's $1,000 Scholarship.

Next level of difficulty would be Tea Council of the USA's Benefits of Tea Video Competition, but we're talking about 1 hour of research and maybe 5 hours or less creating a 1-2 minute video.

The HowCast How-To Video Challenge may take more time, but if you know your subject well and you have the equipment (or borrow the equipment from a friend), this may not be that difficult.

The Resolve to Evolve Essay Scholarship may take more time.

Dr. Seuss's Oh! The Places You'll Go! Scholarship Program is only open to 12th grade high school students graduating spring 2010, age 21 years or under, but if you qualify, you can check that out in August.

Financial Aid for Students Guide, Congressional Research Service

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) works for the United States Congress and supplies policy and legal analysis to members, regardless of party affiliation.

Anyway, the CRS compiled a Financial Aid for Students Guide, updated March 2009. A very thorough source: http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Services.StudentAid

Now, here is where a little intuitive web searching can come into play. Your scholarship and internship guru decided to google Congressional Research Service. Of course, there were several opportunities for internships on their website.

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/internships/
Student Diversity Internship Program
One program I looked at had a deadline of July 31, 2009; one deadline had already passed; you will have to check the deadlines of the various programs.

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/lawrecruit.html
Law Recruit Program

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/pmf.html
Presidential Management Fellows Program at CRS

HowCast How-To Video Challenge--$2,000 Opportunity

I just found out about the Howcast How-To Video Challenge.

First prize is $2,000. Deadline is Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

Information here: http://www.howcast.com/contests/The-Howcast-Emerging-Filmmakers-Program-HowTo-Video-Challenge

$9,000 FastWeb's Scholarship Triathalon; $1,500 in July

FastWeb is sponsoring scholarships from July-October 7, 2009.

The first leg is the world's shortest essay contest, where you submit an essay by email with a maximum of 140 characters.

You will answer one of the following questions (from the website):

"To enter write a short essay (not to exceed 140 characters in length) on one (1) of the following topics:

Option 1: The best way you have used technology to your advantage in school in the past year.
Option 2: How do you think technology will impact your college career? "

The deadline for entries is July 31, 2009.

The grand prize is $1,500 and you will automatically be entered into the Grand Prize Sweepstakes for $2,500 in October.

Read the information and official rules here:
http://www.fastweb.com/college-scholarships/articles/1323-fastwebs-scholarship-triathalon-9k-in-prizes

$1,500 Video Contest, Deadline: July 15, 2009

I just read about this video contest worth $1,500 on the Scholarship Spotlight on FastWeb.com.

What Can YOU Do? Video Contest is open to everybody, regardless of age, and asks you "to make a video on best practices within the workplace that allow every employee the opportunity to contribute, specifically fellow co-workers with a disability." (taken from article)

More info here: http://tinyurl.com/lsgz4q

For those under 18, you must submit parental consent along with the video.

Deadline is July 15, 2009.

Scholarships.com Scholarships--Yes, there is a Santa Claus, Virginia

On Monday, I posted how Scholarships.com has five $1,000 scholarships to those who enter the website's Resolve to Evolve Essay competition.

Scholarships.com also offers "Fund Your Future" College Scholarships worth a $1,000 each. Some of the areas are art, business, computer science, cooking, education, English, engineering, just to name a few.

From the website: "The Scholarships.com 'Fund Your Future' Area of Study College Scholarships are based on just a handful of criteria- citizenship, study major, and year of attendance. That's it!"

You have to attend undergraduate school in the coming year. However, if you create a profile at http://www.scholarships.com/ , then your eligibility will automatically be noted in your results.

For all the areas of study covered (several areas, such as computer science, has several subareas) and the complete information, you can click here: http://www.scholarships.com/college-scholarships/college-scholarships.aspx

Resolve to Evolve Essay Scholarship--5 $1,000 Scholarships--Deadline: July 31, 2009

The web site, Scholarships.com, is holding a Resolve to Evolve Essay Scholarship. The website is giving away five $1,000 scholarships, but your completed entry must be postmarked by July 31, 2009.

You must be a U.S. citizen, registered user of Scholarships.com, and meet one of the following criteria: "Applicant must be a currently enrolled full-time undergraduate or a full or part-time graduate or non-traditional/returning student who will be enrolled at a U.S. Department of Education accredited college, university or vocational school at the time the prize is awarded. Graduate and non-traditional/returning students may be enrolled part-time. Must be age 19 or older to apply. Proof of enrollment required."

Be sure to read all information and complete the entry process. It's very involved, but if you do all the work, that just increases your chances of winning.

Here is the information: http://www.scholarships.com/ResolveToEvolve.aspx

You will be offered several free offers: look them over and decide if you wish to sign up for them. However, you don't have to sign up for them in order to qualify.