Musical.ly To Distribute $25,000 And $10,000 College Scholarships To Visionary ‘Musers’

Musical.ly is looking to help its Musers — which is what it calls creators on the platform — achieve their higher education goals with the launch of a college scholarship program.

Dubbed the Power Of Video Scholarship, the endowment marks the first initiative from a $50 million Creator Fund that the lip-syncing app marked aside in December. College-age applicants can apply for the scholarships right here through May 10 with a minute-long video shot in the Musical.ly app that tells a compelling story and shows off their filmmaking talents. Five winners will receive a $25,000 educational grant to the college, university, vocational-technical, or trade school of their choosing, while 10 winners will receive a $10,000 grant to same.

Musical.ly says that it is looking for creators who “communicate in motion and imagery” and are “able to move an audience to laughter or tears with your videos,” according to its website. Winners will be announced on June 1.

“Musical.ly has grown into a creative, entertaining, and dynamic video community because of the talents and passion of our millions of global creators, and we’re proud to support and foster their personal growth in exchange,” co-founder Alex Zhu said in a statement. “Whether through the Power Of Video Scholarship or future Creator Fund programs, we’re excited to pair the ability for creative expression with tangible opportunities for our users’ personal, educational, and career development.”

Upon launching the multi-year Creator Fund, Musical.ly — which was acquired by Chinese internet giant Bytedance for a reported $800 million in November — said that it would also build a creator marketplace where Musers can vend music and other virtual objects, and also forge opportunities for creators to produce programming alongside select media partners.