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APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

Creative writers who meet the publication requirements that are listed below are eligible to apply. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application" for the documentation that is required to demonstrate eligibility. Ineligible applications will be rejected without panel review.

You may submit only one application per year. Multiple applications will be deemed ineligible. You may not apply for a Literature Fellowship (in poetry or prose) and a Translation Fellowship in the same year. (See Translation Fellowships for more information.)

You are not eligible to apply if you have received two or more Fellowships (in poetry, prose, or translation) from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, you may not apply if you have received any Arts Endowment Literature Fellowship (in poetry or prose) or Translation Fellowship on or after October 1, 2004 (FY 2005).

Former grantees must have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment award(s) previously received.

You are eligible to apply in Prose if, between January 1, 2006, and February 28, 2013, you have had published:

  • At least five different short stories, works of short fiction, excerpts from novels or memoirs, or creative essays (or any combination thereof) in two or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications that  regularly include fiction and/or creative nonfiction as a portion of their format; or
  • A volume of short fiction or a collection of short stories; or
  • A novel or novella; or
  • A volume of creative nonfiction.

To qualify, work must have been originally published between these dates, not only reprinted or reissued in another format during this period.

You may use digital, audio, or online publications to establish eligibility, provided that such publications have competitive selection processes and stated editorial policies. If the online publication or website no longer exists, you must provide, upon request, sufficient evidence that your work once appeared online. If sufficient evidence cannot be provided, the online publication will not be eligible.

The following may not be used to establish eligibility:

  • Pre-publication material, such as galleys, proofs, and advance reader's copies.
  • Work that has appeared in a publication for which you are the editor, publisher, or staff.
  • Collaborative work.
  • Scholarly writing.
  • Instructional writing.
  • Journalism.
  • Book reviews.
  • Editorials/letters to the editor.
  • Interviews.
  • Student publications and publications that primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution.
  • Any publication by presses that: require individual writers to pay for part or all of the production costs; require writers to buy or sell copies of the publication; publish work without competitive selection or a stated editorial policy; or publish work without professional editing.

Your application will not be eligible if incorrect or insufficient publication information is provided in Attachment 4. See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application."

If you are interested in applying for a fellowship in poetry next year, please see the guidelines that will be available in the fall of 2013 for the eligibility requirements. To receive a notification of when the guidelines are available, sign up for the notification service provided by Grants.gov, the federal government’s online application system.  For your reference, last year's guidelines for poetry fellowships can be found by clicking here. Please be aware that guidelines are updated annually and are subject to change.


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