There are fellowships available to emerging writers that do not require formal education or professional qualifications or references. The fellowships are granted solely on the merit of the written work submitted. There are no age limits. When recommendations are required, they are personal or character recommendations only. Fellowship applications generally have an entry fee to cover administrative costs, and the ones highlighted here accept admissions only in the English language.
Instructions
1. Apply for Stanford University's Wallace Stegner Fellowhips. Each year Stanford University's Creative Writing department grants 2-year fellowships to five prose writers and five poets. In addition to the tuition waiver, the fellowship comes with a $26,000 stipend. No degree is awarded, but the program is structured similarly to an MFA program. If you are not accepted into the program, you can reapply annually.
2. Apply for a Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown residency. Fellowships for a seven-month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachussets are awarded annually. Five poets and five fiction writers are given an apartment and a $650 a month stipend in addition to paid tuition. The fellowship runs from October to May.
3. Enter the Wilkes James Jones Fellowship Contest. The focus of the contest is to find writers who create insightful works about modern society. Collections of closely related short stories are also considered for the award. A $10,000 prize is given to the winner, and two runners up each receive a $750 prize. Writers must submit the first 50 pages of a novel in progress, and be prepared to submit pages 51-100 if requested. Manuscripts that were previously submitted can be resubmitted and multiple submissions are permitted. There is a $25 entry fee.
4. Apply to the University of New Orleans Writing Contest for Study Abroad. Each year three unpublished authors are awarded prizes to attend summer writing workshops in either San Miguel de Allende, Mexico or Montpelier, France. Tuition, lodging and airfare are all covered. The three categories are fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Multiple entries are allowed in the same year, but an entry fee must be paid for each entry.
5. If you happen to know a published author who is willing to nominate you, apply for one of Western Michigan University's Prague Summer Program Fellowships. The fellowship covers workshop tuition but not lodging or airfare.
6. You can check the Poets and Writers website from time to time. They post fellowship opportunities as well as information about writing contests.
7. There are software programs (some of them free!) that can help you improve your manuscript before you submit it. See the Resources section for a link to an article about writers' software.
