Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award
Please Give to the Annual Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award
To honor the memory of Hope Cartwright, an accomplished, young Traverse City journalist, the National Writers Series has created the Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award.
Hope’s short life of 23 years ended tragically on February 16, 2026, when a truck struck her as she was walking in a crosswalk from the “Virginia Living” magazine office, where she worked. The driver failed to stop and help her, but was soon found and charged with a felony hit-and-run.
The annual scholarship was created in collaboration with NWS, Prout Financial Design and Heidi Cartwright, Hope’s mother. They are hoping to raise enough money to fund a $5,000 scholarship in perpetuity. To donate to the Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award, please go to nationalwritersseries.org/donate/. Any amount would be greatly appreciated!
“She never shied away from contentious topics, showcasing her belief in the power of storytelling to evoke change. I hope this scholarship encourages future writers to lead with the same curiosity, empathy, courage and conviction that defined her life and work. The world needs more storytellers like Hope.”
A Memorial Service for Hope
A memorial will be held for Cartwright on July 25 at 10:30 a.m. at Mission Hill Church (formerly the home of the First Congregational Church) at 6105 Center Road.
Please join us in honoring this young woman, whose life was defined by curiosity, compassion and love. Heidi noted that her daughter’s favorite Bible passage was 1 John 4:7.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become a child of God and knows God.”
About the Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award
The award will be given each spring when four other NWS scholarship winners are awarded writing scholarships in the categories of fiction, creative nonfiction essay, journalism, and poetry. First-place winners are awarded $1,500 through the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation plus a laptop, gifted by Northguard Technology Group.
For the Hope Cartwright Scholarship Award, judges will select the best overall piece among all submissions. The winner will be awarded $5,000 and asked to read his or her work at an NWS author event.
“One of the most exciting elements of winning an NWS scholarship is the backstage opportunity to meet a nationally famous writer. This is enormous for students just starting out and sorting out their dreams. By meeting someone who writes for a living, they realize that it’s an honest-to-goodness possibility,” said Anne Stanton, executive director.
About Hope Cartwright
In her short but promising career as a journalist, Hope Cartwright photographed and wrote stories of people with curiosity, compassion, and exceptional courage.
An enterprising journalist, she was editor-in-chief of The Occidentalist, the Traverse City West Senior High School newspaper, and a National Merit Scholar. She began work as an assistant editor at “Virginia Living Magazine” in Richmond, even before crossing the graduation stage at Northwestern University, where she studied journalism.
The National Writers Series has a special connection with Hope. Anne Stanton said Hope worked at the high school paper with their youngest child, and that Karlee Tenbusch, a trustee of the NWS Board, was Hope’s newspaper adviser. Finally, board chair Nancy Davy, who invests through Prout Financial, introduced them all.
Tenbusch said that it was one of the greatest privileges of her career to be Hope’s advisor in her senior year.
“Hope was such a light, yet you could tell she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. In a world where so much of the media leads to division or makes people feel ‘othered,’ Hope’s storytelling was the antidote. She led with confidence and a fearless commitment to telling the truth. Hope’s superpower was her genuine curiosity and ability to ask important questions. This allowed her to tell people’s stories with honesty and profound Humanity.”
Tenbusch said she particularly admired Cartwright’s courage to cover difficult topics, especially at a young age.