Since 1983, approximately 200,000 students from public, independent and parochial high schools have explored the beauty and scope of Shakespeare's language through the National Shakespeare Competition.

Annually, 16,000 students and 2,000 teachers from 60 ESU Branches participate in a curriculum-based program designed to help high school students develop their communications skills and appreciation of language and literature, through the study, interpretation and performance of Shakespeare's monologues and sonnets. Students participate in three qualifying stages at the school, Branch and national levels. The winner receives a summer study course in the United Kingdom.

The Indianapolis Branch competition will be held on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 7pm on the Upper Stage of Indiana Repertory Theatre.

Click here for complete competition details.

Over the decades, giving scholarships has been one of our most important activities.

The English-Speaking Union Fellow at Indiana University.
Scholarships for British Students at IU
Since 1951, Indiana University and the ESU Indianapolis Branch have worked together to give scholarships each year to a British student studying at Indiana University, some at the undergraduate level and others at the graduate level. Recent scholarships have been in the amount of $2,500.

British Universities Summer School Programme
Scholarships for High School Teachers for Summer Study in Great Britain
Since 1976, our Branch has participated, through the National ESU, in the British Universities Summer School Programme (“BUSS”). Our Branch awards one scholarship each year, in the amount of $3,000 (plus a $250 Treadwell Memorial Travel Grant from the National ESU). Secondary school teachers from Central Indiana may apply, and recent scholarship recipients have come from a variety of schools, large and small, public and private, secular and religious, big city and small town. Year after year, our BUSS Scholars have told us that their studying at Edinburgh, London or Oxford has been a rewarding and memorable experience.

A program brochure and application form may be obtained from the ESU Indianapolis Branch in January, and the application is usually due by the middle of February. (These dates might change from year to year.) The typical application includes a curriculum vitae, a personal essay, and two letters of recommendation. (A copy of earlier years’ pamphlets may be obtained at any time, to get “a feel” for each program.)

The ESU-BUSS currently includes three (3) summer schools:

• The Scottish Universities’ International Summer School at the University of Edinburgh, which has one program in Modern British & Irish Literature, and another program in Creative Writing
• The University of Oxford Summer Programme at Exeter College, which has one program in History, Politics & Society, and another in English Literature
• Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance, at the new Globe Theatre in London.

In a typical summer, each program offers several three-week terms (our Scholar attends one term). Each of the three programs has its own level of fees (generally, Edinburgh is the least expensive, London the most expensive, with Oxford close to the London level), and they change yearly. For the summer of 2007, the least expensive program’s charge for room, board and tuition will be 1,530 British Pounds, and the most expensive 2,130 British Pounds. At the current exchange rate (plus transaction fees), it takes about two U.S. dollars to purchase a British Pound, so, roughly, the least expensive program will cost about $3,000, and the most expensive more than $4,000. Travel costs and tourist/recreational costs would add to those amounts.

It is noted that although the application is first submitted to the ESU Indianapolis Branch, which picks one applicant to receive a Scholarship, the picked application is then forwarded to the National ESU and to the BUSS Programme, which has the final say on whether an applicant will, or will not, be offered admission (and the Indianapolis scholarship is conditioned on admission).

For more information, please feel free to contact Scholarship Chair Keith W. Lerch at Keith_W._Lerch@hud.gov or 317-251-8661.