As 2022 nears ending, we hope you’ve been able to reach your writing and publishing goals. For these opportunities, as before, please endeavor to review and adhere to the guidelines for the respective submissions, and reach out to the organizers for any clarification.
Emerging Writer Award
Established in 2015, the Emerging Writer Award (formerly the Bridge Award) is now in its eighth year, and is run by Moniack Mhor in partnership with The Bridge Awards, a philanthropic venture that provides funding for the arts, cultural heritage, conservation, and community projects. The 2023 award winner will receive a tailor-made package worth up to £2,000 including tuition via open courses, retreat time and/or mentoring at Moniack Mhor. The Emerging Writer Award is open to unpublished prose writers (fiction) living and working in the UK with a collection of short stories or novel in development. Writers can be writing for any age group (including children and young adults) and may have had excerpts or articles published in the past, but have not yet published any major body of work. Applications are particularly encouraged from those who experience barriers to the writing process.
Deadline is December 13, 2022. For details, go here.
Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship Program 2023
The Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship, presented by the Writing NSW and Text Publishing, is awarded annually to an unpublished Indigenous writer in Australia who has made substantial progress on a work of fiction or nonfiction. The intention of the program is to support the writer to develop their manuscript and to facilitate a pathway to publication. The program will pair an emerging Indigenous writer from anywhere in Australia with a senior Indigenous writer for a structured year-long mentorship. The writer will receive 20 hours of mentorship over the following year, including feedback on their work in progress and general advice on writing and developing a publishing career. If possible, an opportunity to meet with the mentor face-to-face will be provided. The writer will also receive editorial feedback and manuscript development from Text Publishing and access to Writing NSW professional development services. The mentorship is open to emerging Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander writers who are permanent residents of Australia. Applicants must be over the age of 18.
Deadline is December 12, 2022. For details, go here.
Creative Power Award
This is an opportunity for emerging creators in the US or Australia. The Creative Power Award is a small grants program designed to support creators working at the intersection of art and social justice. Winners will receive up to $2,000 USD / $3,000 AUD in funding; monthly group mentoring sessions with fellow award winners, facilitated by a Creative Power Award co-founder; and access to online group for award winners past and present. The award prioritizes support for creative cultural ideas that create dialogue, shift perceptions, and drive social change. The format is up to you: your project could be written, visual, film, audio, theatre, or something else entirely.
Deadline is January 5, 2023. For details, go here.
Jack Hazard Fellowship
Jack Hazard Fellows are fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir writers who teach full-time in an accredited high school in the United States. 10-12 fellows will receive $5,000 award that will enable these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer. If you have been teaching and waking up early or staying up late to write, and savoring the prospect of weekends and breaks for your own work, perhaps this Jack Hazard Fellowship was created just for you.
Deadline is January 4, 2023. For details, go here.
World Journalist Fellowship
The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University invites applications for their World Journalist Fellowship. To be considered for this fellowship, you must first complete and submit an application to an MA program of your choice at the NYU Journalism Institute, in the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and have a non-US passport; there are other eligibility requirements, too. Please review fellowship application guidelines before applying. This fellowship provides support to international journalists who enroll in one of the graduate programs in journalism at the NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. All of their programs are 3 semesters, except for Global and Joint Program Studies and Literary Reportage, which is 4 semesters. The 2023 Fellowship covers tuition expenses and registration fees for two of the three or four semesters of the program. The fellow will also receive a stipend of approximately $16,000 for each of the two semesters of the fellowship. All accepted applicants are considered for other scholarship awards from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
Deadline is January 15, 2023. For details, go here.
Patrick Henry History Fellowship
The Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience invites applications for its full-time residential fellowship, the Patrick Henry History Fellowship, which supports outstanding work on American history by both scholars and non-academics. The Fellowship includes a $45,000 stipend, health benefits, faculty privileges, a book allowance, and a nine-month residency (during the academic year) in a historic 18th-century house in Chestertown, Md. Applicants should have a significant project currently in progress — a book, film, oral history archive, podcast series, museum exhibition, or similar work. The project should address the history and/or legacy – broadly defined – of the U.S. founding era and/or the nation’s founding ideas. It might focus directly on early America, or on the myriad ways the questions that preoccupied the nation’s founding generation have shaped America’s later history. Work that contributes to ongoing national conversations about America’s past and present, with the potential to reach a wide public, is particularly sought.
Deadline is December 15, 2023. For details, go here.
The Knight Science Journalism Fellowship
Every year, at MIT offers academic-year fellowships to 10 science journalists, to give them an opportunity to explore science, technology, and the craft of journalism; to concentrate on a specialty in science; and to learn at some of the top research universities in the world. The program is designed to offer a rich and varied mix of coursework, colloquia, research trips, lab visits, interviews, reading, and writing. Fellows are required to complete a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research project during the academic year. The goal is for fellows to create something that uniquely leverages their time and experiences at MIT, using the resources and connections available to them while they’re there. Some elements of the research project must be journalistic in nature, but it can expand beyond traditional parameters and be created in any format: long-form, story series, multimedia, video, audio, installation, etc. The project may serve as the basis of a future story or the foundation of a book proposal, or it may simply be a detailed report on an area of science. All fellows give a formal presentation on their projects at the conclusion of the fellowship year. Fellows receive a $75,000 stipend, a $3,000 relocation allowance, and other benefits, including basic health insurance for each fellow and their family.
Deadline is January 15, 2023. For details, go here.
Grist Fellowship Program
The Grist Fellowship Program is a paid opportunity to hone your skills at a national news outlet and deepen your understanding of environmental issues. The experience is designed to give early-career journalists with a demonstrated interest in environmental issues the experience to succeed in climate and environmental media. They offer real-world experience at a fast-paced news site, training in a variety of skills key to a journalism career, and exposure to the leading sustainability thinkers and theories of our time. After a year of working full-time at Grist and gaining key skills in environmental journalism, fellows have gone on to outlets including The Atlantic, Capital B, The Verge, Wirecutter, Outside, Atlas Obscura, Greentech Media, and of course, Grist. There are six fellowships — for environment justice, indigenous affairs, news & politics, food & agriculture, climate solutions, and data — each paying $50,000, and Fellows must have a US address and be eligible to work in the US.
Deadline is December 19, 2022. For details, go here.
U.S. Writers Aid Initiative
The U.S. Writers Aid Initiative is intended to assist fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists in addressing short-term financial emergencies. It’s not intended to subsidize writing-related expenses, such as residencies, sabbaticals, computers, printing, shipping, travel, or publicity services. To be eligible, applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. The fund is limited, and not every application can be supported. Grant decisions are made on a quarterly basis by a volunteer committee of literary peers in consultation with PEN America staff.
Deadline January 1, 2023. For details, go here.
Steinbeck Fellowship 2023
The Steinbeck Fellowship is a one-year residency at San José State University which includes a stipend of $15,000. Up to six Fellows are chosen every year. Currently, SJSU offers one-year fellowships in Steinbeck scholarship and in creative writing, including fiction, drama, creative nonfiction, and biography. Applications in poetry will not be accepted. Fellows are expected to give one public reading from their work and must reside in the Bay Area during the academic year. Submit a project proposal, résumé/CV, writing sample (up to 25 pages), and the email addresses of three references. The application system will prompt your references to upload their letters of recommendation by January 31.
Deadline is January 3, 2023. For details, go here.
The Leon Levy Center’s Biography Fellowships
The Leon Levy Center for Biography offers four resident fellowships and one Sloan Fellowship for a biography in science. Awards include writing space at the CUNY Graduate Center, full access to research facilities, research assistance and a stipend of $72,000. The period of the residencies is September – May of each year. Fellows devote their time to their projects and participate in monthly seminars and the public events of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, including the annual lecture and the annual conference, and they are encouraged to join in the dynamic intellectual community of the Graduate Center.
Deadline is January 4, 2023. For details, go here. (For the Sloan Fellowship, which supports the writing of a biography on a figure from science or technology, go here).
The Island Prize 2022/23
Debut novelists from the continent of Africa are invited to submit the opening 3 chapters/10,000 words of a finished novel, along with a short synopsis, for consideration of The Island Prize 2022/23. Entrants must be citizens of African countries or officially recognized permanent residents. Evidence will be required if longlisted. Authors cannot have previously published a novel – nonfiction/short stories/poetry are fine. Prizes include £500 for winner, and £200 for two runners-up. Send submissions to: submissions@theislandprize.com.
Deadline is January 6, 2023. For details, go here.
WriteNow 2022-2023
WriteNow is Penguin’s award-winning program to seek out, nurture and publish new writers from communities under-represented on the nation’s bookshelves. The program is designed to give participating writers the tools, information, and access needed to navigate the publishing industry and launch their career as a successful author. WriteNow is open to any unpublished, unsigned writer based in the UK or Ireland, who identifies as coming from an under-represented background or community in publishing. Each year the program focuses on specific genres of writing to ensure that specific and tailored support are provided to applicants as they work on their manuscripts. This year they’re specifically looking for “commercial fiction” — stories with a gripping hook and a fast-moving plot. And all writers who join the final editorial program will also be offered a £1,000 writing grant.
Deadline is January 8, 2023. For details, go here and here.
Luso-American Fellowship 2023
A collaboration between Dzanc Books and the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) has made possible four full fellowships for writers of Luso descent from North America to attend the DISQUIET ILP’s Writing the Luso Experience workshop in Lisbon in 2023. To be eligible for the fellowship, entrants must be residents of the United States or Canada who have a genealogical link to a Lusophone country. The four winners will receive accommodations, a travel stipend, and full tuition to the 2023 ILP in Lisbon to attend the multi-genre workshop “Writing the Luso Experience” (June 25-July 7) with other writers from Portugal and North America. Runners-up will be offered partial tuition discounts.
Deadline is January 10, 2023. For details, go here.
The FORGE Fellowships 2023
The FORGE Fellowship is for anyone with a creative spark looking for support. They’re into it if your vision is a book, a business, a burrito, or a better world. They want you to be engaging in your process and interested in developing your craft and process. The Fellowship exists to support your growth in your craft, your career, your art, and your life. Whether you begin or complete a project during your Fellowship year is up to you and your process. This is not a project based opportunity. Benefits include bi-monthly touchpoints (like consultations and skill-building opportunities) with access to daily support systems (like a dedicated online hub and FORGE’s extensive suite of templates) to create a space for curiosity, commiseration, and celebration. They pledge to make financial stipends available to FORGE Fellows by 2024. They welcome individual makers and small teams (of no more than three) at any point in your journey to spend six months (May through October) pursuing and achieving your vision of success. They prioritize process over project deadlines, and people over productivity. They invite folks from all backgrounds, lived experiences, and cultures of expression to join in functional friction to re-envision the givens, guidelines, and glee of creative work.
Deadline is January 15, 2023. For details, go here.
Arvon 5-day Hybrid Writing Challenge
Arvon has announced the launch of a new free 5-day writing challenge in January 2023. Penned by their current Writer in Residence, the challenge will get you creating work that sparkles and defies labels in equal measure. Each day between Monday 16 January and Friday 20 January they will email you a writing prompt with supporting materials guided by the Writer in Residence. By the end of the week, you will have the first draft of a brand-new hybrid piece.
For details, go here.
Peggy Ramsay Foundation Grants
The Peggy Ramsey Foundation gives money to theatre writers in order to afford them the time and the space to write. You can be a writer who’s only had one play professionally produced, a writer who’s had dozens of successes or a writer who’s somewhere in between – if you’re struggling to pay the bills, then they can help. They only support writers resident in the British Isles. If you need money to cover production costs or a workshop or a reading or to pay for a dramaturg, please don’t write to them. Also, if you’re a director or a producer writing on behalf of a writer, please don’t write to them. Please only write to them if you’re a writer. They support musical book writers and lyricists as well as writers of straight plays. They also support writers who write theatre for families and young people. They do not support writers who write solely for media other than theatre. They do not support composers.
For details, go here.
Whale Rock Workshops’ 2023 Diversity Grant
Whale Rock Workshops is working in conjunction with Greatest Stories Never Told (501c3) to offer under-represented #ownvoice students full tuition coverage to participate in one of their programs. Students who demonstrate talent and financial need will be prioritized. Applicants do not have to be published or agented, but the student must have writing samples and be working on a writing project. Students must reside in Canada or the United States of America to qualify for their scholarship. Students must have access to a laptop and Zoom technology, and must be able to participate in the full duration of each program. Their grants are designed for their full immersion programs: The Virtual Master Skills Workshop and their Mentorship Program. For the week-long master’s workshop, please submit a 1,000 word writing sample of a manuscript geared towards middle grade or young adult readers. For the mentorship program, please submit a complete picture book manuscript or a 1,000 word middle grade or young adult sample.
For details, go here.
WANL’s Free Memberships for BIPOC Writers
In June of 2020, the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL) signed a letter (Creative Sector Solidarity with Black Lives Matter) pledging to support the Black, Indigenous and other People of Colour (BIPOC) community in their province. Their goal is to increase BIPOC membership and representation, while providing access to paid opportunities for these artists. They have thus decided that their first step will be to make WANL membership free to any member of the BIPOC community. These are full memberships, with access to all WANL programming and services. For the next five years, WANL membership will be 100% free for any member of the BIPOC community from October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2026. They hope that by offering their services free of charge they can foster a community of equal opportunity among their members and the province as a whole.
For details, go here.
Editorial Assistant – Penguin Random House, New York
The editorial team at Random House is seeking an Editorial Assistant to work with an editorial director at the imprint in New York. The position offers the opportunity to contribute to and immerse yourself in a creative and hands-on department renowned by readers as a fine publisher of literary narratives of fiction and nonfiction, gain experience in a broad range of categories including fiction, idea-driven nonfiction, memoir and history, and get exposure to all aspects of the editorial process from proposal to published book. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who wants to gain a greater understanding of both publishing and storytelling. The Editorial Assistant will be responsible for daily editorial activities, including reading and providing input on proposals and manuscripts, drafting catalog and flap copy, helping to manage a list of books, participating in the development of new book ideas, and researching sales and competition. In addition to providing administrative support, the assistant will liaise with authors, agents, and different departments across Penguin Random House to support the editorial process and the publishing of Random House titles. The salary for this position is $45,000.
For details, go here.
Bridport Bursary for Underrepresented Writers
Bridport bursary scheme gives underrepresented writers a free entry to the Bridport Prize competition in any category. In order to support as many writers as possible, applications are limited to one per year, per writer. Applications, which are currently for poetry, short story, flash fiction and novel bursaries, are reviewed in batches on a first-come-first-served basis and may take up to six weeks to process. Please read the rules and eligibility criteria for your chosen category before making a bursary application. These bursaries have been generously donated by writers entering the competition who want to support other writers with their work. All applications are considered in the strictest confidence. They don’t require proof of income; your word is good enough.
Deadline is May 10, 2023. For details, go here.
NmaHassan Muhammad is a 2022 Ebedi Fellow and a regular contributor to the Authors Publish magazine. He is currently working on a collection of flash fiction which he’s dedicating to the memory of his son, Abdullateef Hamood. NmaHassan writes from Minna, Nigeria. He tweets @NmaHassanM
