Monthly Archives: March 2015

Grants for Creative Writers

Creative Writing

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent federal government agency that awards financial assistance and diverse opportunities to U.S. citizens participating in arts. NEA’s efforts revolve around boosting the creative capacity of communities so it has introduced its Literature Fellowships program.

The program awards $25,000 government grants in prose (creative nonfiction and fiction) and poetry to creative writers who are published that enable the beneficiaries to reserve some time for research, writing, travel, and overall career advancement.

The NEA Literature Fellowships program runs on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose and poetry conducted in alternating years. Eligible applicants can apply only once each year.

Under the NEA Literature Fellowships program, prose writing candidates can apply for Creative Writing Fellowships. If you are capable of churning out creatively interesting prose and have been published at least once, whether in an online journal or printed publication, you can take advantage of applying for NEA’s Creative Writing Fellowships program.

Applicants should have at least published five different short stories. Works may include short fiction, novels or memoirs excerpts, or creative essays or in any combination published in two or more literary journals, publications or anthologies that frequently contain creative nonfiction or fiction as a part of their format.

Writers can also submit their entries consisting of a volume of short fiction or a collection of short stories; novels or novellas; or a volume of creative nonfiction.

In order to be eligible, work must have been published first with an authorized publisher between the solicitation dates, not only reprinted or reissued during the specified time period.

Applicants can also utilize audio, digital or online publications to institute eligibility, given that the publisher has good selection processes and indicated editorial policies.

If the online publication or website no longer exists, applicants must afford, upon request, adequate and satisfactory evidence that their work has appeared online. The online publication cannot be eligible if there’s no sufficient evidence provided.

Applications are undertake an anonymous process in which the solitary review standard are artistic merit and excellence. To review the applications, The NEA annually gathers a different advisory panel to review applications, where each has a diverse view in regards to race and ethnicity, geography and artistic perspectives.

Competition for fellowships is tremendously fierce. Typically, NEA gets thousands of applications each year in the prose category and grants fellowships to fewer than 5% of the applicants. As an applicant, you must carefully consider whether your work will vie at the national level.

All applicants must go to the Grants.gov website and click on “How to Prepare and Submit an Application” for further information. Applications must be submitted on time.

Take note that NEA doesn’t fund:

Individuals who have formerly received two or more Literature Fellowships (in prose or poetry) or Translation Fellowships from the agency.

Individuals who have been awarded any Literature Fellowship (in prose or poetry) or Translation Fellowship from the agency within the last decade.

Writers who engage in scholarly work. Scholarly writers can get in touch with the National Endowment for the Humanities for grant opportunities.

Work for academic degrees.

News reporters.

How to Apply for Grant Money

grantmoney_fallingThere is a variety of grant programs designed to help individuals and businesses improve their financial bearings, either they are government grants or nonprofit funds.  In any case, you may be qualified for a number of grants available from most federal agencies, private/public organizations, or charitable institutions. However, deciding which grant to apply and how to make a grant proposal are the challenging parts of the process.

If you’re a novice grant seeker, one way to look for grant opportunities is to visit Grants.gov, which the go-to source where you find and apply for various types of federal funds, or browse through several documents and tools. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services manages the website, which is an E-Government initiative operating under the Office of Management and Budget.

When you have registered on the website, you can easily access information about thousands of grant opportunities. The site has a slew of information about application and eligibility requirements. Additionally, the site allows you to apply for multiple grants and track the progress of your application.

Another option is to check full listings of all federal programs available to State and local government through the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. The catalog provides information about all the available federal programs – from individuals to state and local governments. Upon using the catalog, the minute you have sought out the grants you are applying for, you can contact the administrating office for instructions about the application and further requirements.

Same goes for nonprofit organizations. These organizations solicit applications from individuals who will be able to use the grant money obtained to further the goals and objectives of the organization.

Applying

Preceding the application process, ensure that you have a well-thought out plan for the grant money you will be receiving, in case you got approved. You will be asked to provide pertinent information regarding your financial ventures. You can always contact administrating officials or agencies listed in the request for application or program announcement with questions about the specific grants you want to apply for.

Take note of the key factors detailing your application since the grant administrating office may get in touch with you once your application has been perused for approval. It’s better that you are able to refer to a copy of your application than to depend by memory on what you have proposed.

Grant proposing

If you feel that the grant application process is daunting enough, you can seek the services of professional grant writers. Grant writers will provide you clear, well-written successful grant proposals. Grant writers can help ensure that you’re prepared as possible in your grant applications. You can check Find a Grant Writer for more information about the grant writing process.

There are several resources online that are available which can help you with the application process. Keep in mind that applying for grant money needs a completed application, including a thorough outline of the project where the grant money will be used. Take care to submit the completed application by the deadline or else you cannot be considered for the grant if your application is late or not received.