The Holle Awards for Excellence in Creativity and Communication are designed to celebrate creative expression and encourage partnerships among communication disciplines. We offer awards in categories of oral communication, creative storytelling, and journalism. For the purposes of award categorization, we define these themes as follows:

We invite submissions that embody the spirit of creativity and excellence. All applications should align with the mission of the award and the vision of Everett Holle. Holle Awards winners will receive a $10,000 cash prize and a “Hermes Rises” trophy. 

Eligibility

The Awards are open to undergraduate students currently enrolled in any accredited college or university in the United States. Students in any field or discipline are welcome to apply, but some awards may be restricted to work completed in your second-to-final year of school, or require specific training as a major or minor in the subject area. All awards require faculty reference or sponsorship. Graduate students will only be considered for the Holle Award for Excellence in Book Arts. For all other awards, students who have previously earned an undergraduate degree are not eligible. Guidelines and eligibility rules for each award are available with their descriptions.

Entries

Entries should be original, independent, and individual work. Submissions created with artificial intelligence (AI) are ineligible. Neither double bylines nor entries by teams or groups will be considered. The 2025 application fee is waived, so there is no cost to apply.

Applicants can only apply for one award with a single submission. Previous award winners can apply again in a subsequent year with a different project if they meet the application criteria. Applicants who are not successful are welcome to reapply the following year with a different project as long as they still meet the application criteria. There are limited submission allowances for each award—each award will be closed after the first 50 submissions. A minimum of 10 qualifying applications are required to award any given category. An award will not be given if this threshold is not met to ensure a competitive pool of candidates and sufficient competition.

Application Deadline

Applications for the 2025 Holle Awards for Excellence in Creativity and Communication will be open from May 1 to May 31, 2025. Each award will accept  the first 50 submissions within that window. Awards will be closed when that threshold is met, or on May 31, whichever happens first. All submissions are final and cannot be revised, altered or updated. Do not submit incomplete or works in progress. Please review the individual award guidelines and requirements before submitting. Submissions that do not comply with entry rules will be disqualified.