UK student awarded 2026 English-Speaking Union Scholarship
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 20, 2026) — Hunter Coady, a junior from Crestwood, Kentucky, was recently awarded a 2026 English-Speaking Union Scholarship. The award covers full tuition and expenses for the student’s three-week experience at the University of Oxford.
The English-Speaking Union of the United States is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, education service organization whose mission is to promote scholarship and the advancement of knowledge using English in an expanding global community.
Coady is an English major in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, a Gaines and Chellgren Fellow, and Lewis Honors student. While at Oxford, he will attend educational seminars, gain insights through professionals, work alongside fellow students and participate in social events.
“Being able to study at Oxford in any regard is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Coady said. “I am most looking forward to seeing more of England and learning more about its culture and history.”
During the program, Coady will take two seminars: creative non-fiction and fiction. These courses will provide opportunities to fine tune his writing skills, challenge his creative thinking and explore who he is as a writer.
“Creative writing is my passion, and I hope to make a career out of it,” he said. “This award will allow me to work on my senior year thesis while I’m there and hone my creative skills, so I can be prepared for graduate school. As part of my travel, I will be looking at sites in Dublin and London that will relate to my thesis, which is writing a horror novel.”
After graduation, Coady plans to obtain a master’s and doctoral degree in creative writing in hopes of teaching at a university.
Coady is not without support for his journey abroad. Chelsea Brislin, Ph.D., associate director of UK’s Gaines Center for the Humanities and Lewis Honors College faculty member, is his faculty mentor for the program.
The Kentucky Branch of the English-Speaking Union awards scholarships for juniors to take summer courses offered at two institutions in the United Kingdom: Oxford and Edinburgh universities.
To learn more about the English-Speaking Union Scholarship, visit the UK Office of Nationally Competitive Awards website.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and healthcare. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $1.02 billion research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.