The following list provides you with excellent opportunities, including scholarships for students, a fund for women, and fee-free entry for writers from developing countries. Don’t forget to check their guidelines before you submit to the open calls.

The Dow Jones News Fund 

The Dow Jones News Fund invites college students to apply for paid summer internships in audience engagement, business reporting, data journalism, digital media and multiplatform editing. The News Fund will select college journalists for internships with more than 70 newsrooms across the US (see eligibility requirements here – scroll down). Those selected will also benefit from week-long, pre-internship training, $1,500 scholarships, memberships to journalism groups and access to the DJNF alumni network for jobs and mentoring.

Deadline is November 14, 2022. For details, go here.

Gotham Writers Scriptwriting scholarships

The Gotham Scriptwriting Scholarship is open to people of color who have an interest in writing scripts for movies, TV shows, or plays. Any level of experience is fine. All they ask is the desire to write scripts. Three scholarships will be offered. Each scholarship includes: the latest version of the Final Draft scriptwriting software; two 10-week script-related courses of the writer’s choosing; two intensives of the writer’s choosing; and one 12-hour mentorship, after the writer has completed at least one 10-week course. Acceptance is open to all people of color, age 18 and up. At least one spot will be rewarded to a Black applicant. Once accepted, Gotham will do a consultation to help guide the writer with their initial course selection. There is no time limit on when all the courses must be completed.

Deadline is November 15, 2022. For details, go here.

Stephen Fraser Encouragement Fund 

The Impact and Legacy Fund has announced the Stephen Fraser Encouragement Fund which will provide three grants of $2,000 each to children’s book authors, artists or translators who have traditionally published at least one book. It is supported Stephen Fraser, an editor and an agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. His clients have won various prestigious awards. He hopes this fund will “spoil its recipients with encouragement,” combating the reality of rejections, financial hardships or emotional discouragement. The aim of the fund is to help create an environment of support in which creative people can flourish. The grants have no strings attached and may be used however the recipient sees fit.

Deadline is November 15, 2022. For details, go here.

Writers’ Conference Scholarships

Scholarships are being offered for first-time participants of the 29th Annual Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway writers’ conference scheduled for January 13-16, 2023. Recipients may choose from workshops in fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, poetry and more. In addition to workshops, the conference also offers plentiful writing time, readings, open mics, yoga and dancing at the Getaway Disco.

There are two different types of scholarships available:

1. The Toni Brown Memorial Scholarship will offer three scholarships to poets or writers aged 31 and over.

2. The Robert Hayden Scholarship will fund three poets or writers between the ages of 18 and 30. At least two of these scholarships will be awarded to poets or writers of color.

Deadline is November 15, 2022. For details, go here.

Africa Writes Day: Writing Workshop: Performing Your Poetry

This is an event at the Birmingham Literature Festival 2022, at Birmingham. It is a workshop by the outgoing Birmingham Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey, to learn how to approach reading and performing your poetry to an audience. Writers should bring a poem they want to work on, to play with tempo, volume, emotion and intonation. For poets of all levels of experience, including beginners. The program date is November 19, 2022, from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

The event costs £10 but bursaries are available for West Midland based writers – see here. To apply for a bursary place, please send a short paragraph of information about your circumstances to Olivia Chapman on: olivia@writingwestmidlands.org. They don’t require financial records nor any statement from a government agency. For bursary details, go here.

ECW Press BIPOC Writers Mentorship Program

This 4-month mentorship program is part of ECW’s commitment to promote diverse and inclusive voices in books. The goal of this program is to find and nurture up-and-coming writers from BIPOC communities and equip them with tools and information to navigate the industry, submission process, and publishing process. The program is only open to writers who have never published a book and are currently living in Canada.  (Note: they also have paid positions for freelance editors).

Deadline is November 30, 2022. For details, go here.

Idembeka Creative Writing Workshop

Eligible writers are invited to apply to the inaugural edition of the Idembeka Creative Writing Workshop. Selected writers will be notified via email.  The workshop will be held virtually, and it will run from the 9th to the 13th of January 2023. Only writers with three or fewer publications are eligible to apply (self-publication is excluded from this restriction). Entrants must be African. Also, they must be currently resident in an African country; writers who are serious about writing creatively; and emerging writers who intend to take the writing workshops seriously.

Deadline is November 30, 2022. For details, go here.

12 x 12 2023 Scholarship Program

Three scholarships will be awarded in each of the following two categories: financial need; and authors of diverse ethnic, cultural, and/or other backgrounds underrepresented in the canon of children’s picture book literature. Scholarship recipients will receive full membership tuition for the Little GOLDen Book level ($357) for 2023 and FREE access ($297) to The Complete Picture Book Submissions System. If you qualify for both scholarships, you may apply for both scholarships, but you can only win one. Please send a separate submission for each scholarship following the respective instructions.

Deadline is November 30, 2022. For details, go here.

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers is an annual contest for poets who are sophomores and juniors in high school. The poems by the winner and runners-up will be published in the Kenyon Review, and the winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop. Please submit only one poem to the contest. Only unpublished work will be considered for the prize. Submissions submitted simultaneously to the contest and other publishing opportunities cannot be considered.

Deadline is November 30, 2022. For details, go here.

SCBWI Grants

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) has announced the following opportunities for their members:

1. The Independently Published Pre-publication Grant is awarded annually and provides $2,500 to help off-set the price of self-publishing. Winners will be announced on January 20, 2023. Details here.

2. The Spark Award is an annual award that recognizes excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route. The Spark winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize. The winner and honor recipients (if applicable) will receive: Spark seals to display on their book, the opportunity to teach a digital workshop about their publishing journey, the chance to be featured in the SCBWI online bookstore and publicized through SCBWI social networking sites. The winners will also get the opportunity to attend any conference of their choice tuition-free (other than for extras such as critiques and intensives). Details here.

Both opportunities have November 30, 2022 as the deadline.

Fees-Free Entry for the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition 2022

In a social justice initiative, the Munster Literature Centre is offering free entries of two poems each for thirty poets currently residing in a developing country (Africa, Central and South America, South East Asia, the Philippines, in the main) who do not have the financial means to pay the entrance fee for this year’s Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition. The places are offered on a trust basis. If you can afford the fee, please do not use this facility as you will be depriving someone who really needs it.

Deadline is November 30, 2022. For details, go here.

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry is awarded annually to an African poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. The winner receives $1000 and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal. The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets will only accept “first book” submissions from African writers who have not published a book-length poetry collection. This includes self-published books if they were sold online, in stores, or at readings. Writers who have edited and published an anthology or a similar collection of other writers’ work remain eligible. An “African writer” is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African. Only poetry submissions in English can be considered. Work translated from another language to English is accepted, but a percentage of the prize will be awarded to the translator.

Deadline is December 1, 2022. For details, go here.

The RSL Ondaatje Prize 2023

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize is an annual award of £10,000 for a distinguished book of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place. Books may be entered only by trade publishers based in the UK or RoI. Each publisher, or imprint of a publisher, may enter one book only and up to three call-in titles. Authors may not enter themselves. All prize winners also receive a paperweight clock, which they are awarded at a celebratory dinner.

Deadline is December 2, 2022. For details, go here.

The New York Times Newsroom Fellowship Program

The New York Times Fellowship is a paid, one-year work program aimed at cultivating the next generation of journalists. The fellowship represents a unique opportunity to do great journalism for The Times. It incorporates speakers, feedback and training opportunities. The program’s goal is to benefit not only the participants and The Times, but also other newsrooms. They expect most of their fellows will graduate to positions around the country and world. The program incorporates reporters, editors, and visual journalists across a range of departments.

Please note, “Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. Applicants to positions in London must be authorized to work in the United Kingdom. We will not sponsor new work visas for the fellowship, but we may consider you if you have an existing work visa or a valid student visa that can be extended via Optional Practical Training.”

Deadline is December 2, 2022. For details, go here.

The Kemper Human Rights Education Foundation’s 2022 Essay Contest For High School Students

This year the Kemper Human Rights Education Foundation (khref.org) is offering first, second, and third place prizes of $3000, $1500, and $750 to high school students judged to have written the best answers to the following question: “Respect for human rights seems to be eroding in many countries. Do you agree?  If so, provide examples and explain what you think is the major cause of the problem and how it should be addressed?  If you disagree, explain the reason you disagree.”

There are two contests: one for students in the U.S. and one for students who are citizens and residents of other countries. Essays will be judged according to how well they answer the question posed and the extent to which they are supported by research.

Deadline is December 10, 2022. For details, go here.

Self-Editing Your Novel Course Bursary

With thanks to tutors Debi Alper and Emma Darwin, Jericho Writers are able to offer a fully-funded place for an under-represented writer on their most popular tutored course – Self Editing Your Novel. This six-week online course will give you self-editing skills you need for your novel, before pitching to agents, or self-publishing. Every applicant for the Self-Editing Your Novel Course bursary will also be considered for a free annual membership to Jericho Writers. They give out a minimum of three free memberships for each bursary course application – that’s a total of twelve free memberships – each year. To be eligible, an applicant must have a finished draft of a novel, be available for the dates included in the six-week ‘Self-Edit Your Novel’, and be an underrepresented writer.

Deadline is December 18, 2022. For details, go here.

Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists – Rolling Deadline

Promoting the work and advancing the role of women and nonbinary journalists in the news media across the globe is critical to transparency and a diversity of voices. The Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, the first funding initiative of its kind, enables the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to dramatically expand its support of women journalists. Established with a $4 million gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Fund will support projects including educational opportunities, investigative reporting and media development initiatives. The Fund for Women Journalists accepts applications on a rolling basis. Applications may take up to 6 weeks to process.

For details, go here.

The 2023 Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards 

Public high school seniors in the United States are invited to apply to win one of five $10,000 awards in the following categories: the Michelle Obama Award for Memoir; the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry; the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word; fiction/drama; and NYC entrant award. See the eligibility and award information here.

The deadline is February 1, 2023, 3:00 pm CT—or when 1,000 applications have been received. For details, go here.

Bio: NmaHassan Muhammad is a 2022 Ebedi Fellow and a regular contributor to the Authors Publish magazine. He was longlisted for the 2022 African Writers Awards and Wakini Kuria Prize which he feels has honored the memory of his son, Abdullateef Hamood. NmaHassan  writes from Minna, Nigeria. He tweets @NmaHassanM