by NmaHassan Muhammad
The following are opportunities for creative writers that are open this April and beyond. Some have fast approaching deadlines and others have more time. The list is organized according to deadlines. So the further down the list you go, the more time you have to apply. Some of these opportunities are open to most writers, and others have very specific limitations, in terms of demographics or geography.
SCBWI Work-In-Progress (WIP) Awards 2022
The Work-In-Progress (WIP) Award, one of the over thirty awards by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), will assist children’s book writers and illustrators in the publication of a specific project currently not under contract. One winner will be selected from the each category: Picture Book Text, Chapter Books/Early Readers, Middle Grade, Young Adult Fiction, Non-fiction, and underrepresented fiction and non-fiction (which can be in addition to any of the five preceding categories).
The works submitted by winners will be placed on a secure webpage and presented to a hand-selected group of editors for their consideration. To have your work presented to acquiring editors along with an SCBWI endorsement is quite a unique opportunity. To apply, applicants must be members of SCBWI.
Deadline is April 15, 2022.
For details, go here.
ALTA Travel Fellowship 2022
Each year, a number of fellowships between $500 and $1,000 are awarded to emerging translators to help them participate in the annual The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) conference. For the ALTA Travel Fellowships, an emerging translator is someone who does not yet have a book-length work of translation published or under contract. ALTA considers chapbooks to be book-length publications for the Travel Fellowships. The ALTA Travel Fellowships are open to individual translators (not teams of co-translators). It’s open to applicants from all backgrounds. This year’s Travel Fellowships will be $500 per Fellow, plus a virtual reading held in autumn 2022. At the conference, ALTA Fellows are invited to read their translated work at a keynote event, giving them an opportunity to present their translations to an audience of translators, authors, editors, and publishers from around the world.
Deadline is April 18, 2022.
For details, go here.
The Larissa Marantz Merit and Need-Based Graphic Novel Scholarships
The Larissa Marantz Merit and Need-Based Graphic Novel Scholarships are open to any writer or illustrator who identifies as BIPOC, LGBTQI, Low-Income, having a Disability, is a Children’s Librarian or an Australian. These full or half scholarships are for the interactive online course Mastering Graphic Novels Live which is starting on May 9, 2022.
Deadline is April 20, 2022.
For details, go here.
2022 Varuna Residency
The Michael King Writers Centre in association with Varuna, The National Writers House in Katoomba, NSW is offering a new residency for New Zealand writers. This four week residency is open to mid-career or established writers who are either New Zealand citizens or have New Zealand permanent residency, and who have had a book published in the last two years. The selected writers will receive return economy airfares to Sydney, accommodation with all meals included, a NZ$5,000 stipend and the opportunity to appear at the Blue Mountains Writers Festival (21-23 October), during the residency. They actively seek and encourage all writers—diverse in age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective—to apply.
Deadline is April 25, 2022.
For details, go here.
2022/2023 African Liberty Writing Fellowship
The African Liberty Writing Fellowship program is a year-long program designed to train young Africans interested in the academia, media, public policy, or any other critical-and-analytical-writing-related career, in opinion article writing. Accepted applicants will complete a five-week mandatory online course. The top thirty-five candidates from the five-week training will be admitted as African Liberty Writing Fellows. Program start date is July 11, 2022, and end date is July 11, 2023.
Deadline is April 30, 2022.
For details, go here.
College Admissions Essay Coaching Scholarship 2022
The Gotham College Admissions Essay Coaching Scholarship is available to people of color who are currently in Grades 10-12 in high school. One application is required per person. Students outside the US may apply if they meet these requirements. Three winners will receive, totally free, the five-hour package of Gotham’s College Admissions Essay Coaching.
Deadline is May 15, 2022.
For details, go here.
In-Person Native Children’s and YA Writing Intensive Scholarships
The 2022 Native Children’s and YA Writing Intensive is open for applications with scholarships for registration and lodging. The Intensive is designed for Native/Indigenous/First Nations writers who are looking to deepen their craft, receive manuscript feedback and career mentorship, learn from the Writing Barn faculty of authors and publishing professionals, and build a sense of writing community. It will take place from August 4-7, 2022, at the Writing Barn in Austin, Texas.
Deadline is May 31, 2022.
For details, go here.
LitUp Writer’s Fellowship
LitUp Writer’s Fellowship is for underrepresented and unpublished women storytellers. Reese’s Book Club, in partnership with WNDB, is offering five writers access to the money, marketing and three-month mentorship needed to put their best work forward. Applications are open to diverse women writers including women who are cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and bigender. Selected applicants will participate in an all-expenses paid writers retreat and have the opportunity to workshop their manuscript with bestselling authors.
Deadline is May 31, 2022.
For details, go here.
The Miles Morland Foundation African Writers’ Scholarship
The Miles Morland Foundation African Writers’ Scholarship is available to an applicant who has applied for a place on the MA Creative Writing (Prose Fiction or Biography and Creative Non-Fiction) in the School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing. To be eligible, an applicant must be a national of an African country or who was born in a country in Africa or whose parents were both born in Africa. A scholarship application is required for the scholarship which is worth £25000.
Deadline is June 3, 2022.
For details, go here.
NmaHassan Muhammad is a Nigerian writer. He enjoys reading picture books, chess, comedy, and combat sports for inspiration and leisure. He writes from Minna.
