The Chris K. Jones Scholarships for September 2025

Chris’ fascination with writing started as a boy when he could not get the vivid pictures out of his head onto paper because he couldn’t draw. But what he could do is describe what he saw and started writing them down. He enrolled in his first creative writing course where his teacher fostered his imagination and learned about telling stories and was selected for a Gifted and Talented program in creative writing. At University, Chris chose to study Accounting as his practical side won a hard-fought internal battle. But he never lost his love for writing and took writing courses wherever he could. During his time at Newcastle one of Chris’ projects was to write a continuation of Macbeth in Elizabethan English. After graduation his entrepreneurial roots took hold building several start-ups but all the while he would write whenever he could. Chris spent his days as the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of a hyper-growth company and then nights writing plays, screen plays and stories. He won several screen writing contests including Best TV Pilot at the Satisfied Eye Film Festival in Surrey. After the sale of his company, on January 31st, 2020, he put his calculator down and picked up his pen and after a thirty-year career, to pursue his writing full time. In September 2020, Chris left New York for Barbados where he penned his debut novel Headcase and published the book March 2022. He has received several five-star reviews and won a gold medal from Literary Titans. Chris never gave up on his desire to be a writer. He credits his desire to bring his stories of overcoming trauma and mental health to the world as his motivating factor that kept him in a relentless pursuit to be a writer. Now he wants to share his good fortune with other young writers helping them on their way to pursing their dreams and bringing out their artist within to share their stories with the world. 

To be eligible for The Chris K. Jones Scholarship you must:

• Be a UK/Home applicant with 'Home' fee status - This includes students domiciled in Jersey, Guernsey, The Channel Islands, Ireland and Isle of Man
• Apply to study on the Full-Time one year Creative Writing MA, commencing September 2025 at the Newcastle Upon Tyne campus
• Meet the terms and conditions and accept your offer
• Be a self-funded student
• Not have fees which are paid in full or in part through a sponsorship arrangement, i.e. employer funded

• The students selected for The Chris K. Jones Scholarship will not be eligible for other Northumbria Scholarships
• If you are selected and are a Northumbria Alumni, you will also be eligible for the Alumni Discount
• The Chris K. Jones Scholarship is awarded as a cash sum
• The successful students will receive a £2,000 cash payment on the Full-Time one year Creative Writing MA studied at the Newcastle Upon Tyne Campus
• The cash award will be paid as: 25% in November 2025, 25% in February 2026, and 50% in May 2026
• The successful student will be required to send a thank you letter and progress updates to the donor
• If you do not provide a thank you letter and progress updates to the donor, the scholarship may be withdrawn
• If you defer your place, the scholarship offer will be withdrawn
• If you decide to leave your course after a scholarship payment has been made, the University will not make efforts to reclaim the amount
• Northumbria reserves the right to withdraw this scheme at any point
• The University's decision is final and cannot be challenged; there is no right of appeal

• There is a competitive selection process for this scholarship scheme.  Applicants need to apply via online written application; a selection panel will consider all eligible applications.  In no more than 3000 characters, discuss the following statement; 'Outward pressures and difficulties can sometimes make it hard for us to feel creative. When life gets in the way, what techniques do you use to make sure you still get some writing done?' -  Applications will be considered on the strength of response.

• The successful applicant will be notified once the evaluation panel has met, by no later than Friday 26 September 2025.