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.

An individual may submit only one application per year. Multiple applications will be rejected. You may not apply for a Creative Writing Fellowship and a Translation Project in the same year. (See Translation Projects for more information.)

You are not eligible to apply if you have received two or more Creative Writing or Translation Fellowships (in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, belles-lettres, or for translation) from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, you may not apply in Prose if you have received any Arts Endowment Creative Writing or Translation Fellowship since October 1, 1998 (FY 1999). You may not apply in Poetry if you have received any Arts Endowment Creative Writing or Translation Fellowship since October 1, 1999 (FY 2000).

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 Fiction if, between January 1, 2000, and March 1, 2007, you have had published:

• At least five different short stories, works of short fiction, or excerpts from novels in two or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications which regularly include fiction as a portion of their format; or
• A volume of short fiction or a collection of short stories; or
• A novel or novella.

You are eligible to apply in Creative Nonfiction if, between January 1, 2000, and March 1, 2007, you have had published:

• At least five different creative essays (such as personal essays, memoirs, etc.) in two or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications; or
• A volume of creative nonfiction.

You are eligible to apply in Poetry if, between January 1, 2001, and March 3, 2008, you have had published:

• A volume of 48 or more pages of poetry; or
• Twenty or more different poems or pages of poetry in five or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications which regularly include poetry as a portion of their format. Up to 16 poems may be in a single volume of poetry of fewer than 48 pages. This volume, however, may count as only one of the required five places of publication.

Applicants may use online publications to establish up to fifty percent of their eligibility, provided that such publications have competitive selection processes and stated editorial policies.

You must apply in a specific literary form (i.e., fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry). You must establish your eligibility in the form in which you apply. No exceptions will be made to the eligibility requirements. The following may not be used to establish eligibility:

• Self-publication including 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 which primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution.
• Vanity press publication. For the purposes of this category, a vanity press is defined as one that does any of the following: requires individual writers to pay for part or all of the publication costs; asks writers to buy or sell copies of the publication; publishes the work of anyone who subscribes to the publication or joins the organization through membership fees; publishes the work of anyone who buys an advertisement in the publication; or publishes work without competitive selection.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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Washington, DC 20506