A minor scholarship (5)
I believe the answer is:
award
'scholarship' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a minor' is the wordplay.
'minor' becomes 'ward' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'a'+'ward'='AWARD'
(Other definitions for award that I've seen before include "Write up" , "Give officially as prize or payment" , "Endow" , "Official prize in a draw" , "Tony is one" .)