musical.ly, one of the world’s most popular mobile platforms for entertaining short videos, today announced the launch of its inaugural college scholarship program. The Power of Video Scholarship, which is accepting its initial round of applications from April 10 – May 10, will award college-age winners with up to $25,000 each in educational grants to their college or university. This is the first official program in musical.ly’s $50 million Creator Fund dedicated to supporting global users in honing their creative talents and content creation efforts.

“We have been continually amazed by the entertaining, varied content our users create on musical.ly and the ways they highlight their skills and creativity,” said Kevin Ferguson, head of North America for musical.ly. “Through the launch of our Power of Video Scholarship program, we are thrilled to now support many of these talented and passionate users in their educational and career enrichment by providing concrete financial assistance toward their college and university programs.”

The Power of Video Scholarship aims to reward budding creatives who communicate in motion and imagery – whether musicians or artists, storytellers or stunt performers – with funds to use at their accredited two- or four-year college, university, vocational-technical, or trade school. Applicants are invited to create and submit an original, high-quality video that tells a compelling story and shows off their passions and talents. Videos should be 1 minute or less, vertical and full-screen, and shot within the musical.ly app. More information and an online application can be found at https://musical.ly/scholarship.

This is the first official program in musical.ly’s Creator Fund, which invests in a number of programs to discover, encourage, and foster the career growth of and opportunities for the platform’s global creator community. Future programs may include additional scholarships and educational grants for college students, a creator marketplace, and co-innovation with select media and content partners. The guiding mission of the Creator Fund is to provide education and training, foster community enrichment, and discover and develop unique and promising creative talent.

“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,” said Alex Zhu, co-founder of musical.ly. “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.”