February Opportunity List
Featuring Novel Writing Scholarships, Awards for African American Poets, Art Residencies, a filmmakers grant for LGBTQ+ directors, and an Indigenous Writers-In-Residence Opportunity + More
Hey Everyone,
It’s that time of the month again!
A massive thank you for your continued support—this community initiative wouldn’t be possible without you.
For those who submitted your projects to our very first ‘Writers Fund’ Call, please note I will be making an announcement later this month with the selected submission.
As always, you’ll find a number of various opportunities below, which I often update as the month goes by, so be sure to check back!
Highlights Foundation
There are three categories of Highlights Foundation scholarships in 2025.
A scholarship for a workshop/program (in person or online).
In Person Programs take place at our rural retreat center in Northeastern PA (The Barn at Boyds Mills). These workshops and retreats are all-inclusive, including lodging and all meals and snacks, learning and networking opportunities, and plenty of retreat time.
Programs generally vary from 3 to 5 days in length, and no two are ever the same. They’re faculty-led, generally modestly-sized in nature (up to 30 people, depending on topic).
Online Workshops are designed for you to be able to participate from anywhere you are, given access to a computer with an internet connection. Depending on the workshop you choose, our online offerings generally use a combination of Zoom for live sessions, an online course platform for self-paced/recorded sessions, resources, message boards, and email for specific communication.
These workshops and sessions are structured uniquely by course, can vary in length (depending on the topic).
A Whole Novel Workshop scholarship.
Offers writers the rare opportunity to have the entire draft of a novel read with written feedback and private consultation. It also offers presentations and community-building specifically designed for novelists at this stage in their writing journey, and is designed to help writers make significant progress toward submission.
The Highlights Foundation offers both Online and In-Person Whole Novel Workshops, and receipients who recieve a Whole Novel Workshop scholarship award can choose which type works for them.
A scholarship for a personal retreat.
Held at the Highlights Foundation’s retreat center (The Barn at Boyds Mills) offers time to focus on your work without a structured schedule, be in nature, have meals in the company of fellow creatives if you wish, and spend time as you please. Personal retreat scholarships are generally for three nights/four days (unless otherwise specified in the award) and offer lodging (your choice of a cabin, the lodge, or the historic farmhouse based on availability), three meals/day, and snacks.
NOTE: A limited number of travel stipends of $500 each will be awarded during this scholarship period, and there is a place on the application to let us know if a travel stipend is helpful.
Submissions Due: February 10th
Before you apply: Check out this list of special/named scholarships (found here) so you know which one is applicable for your application.
Info + Submissions: HERE
Broadside Lotus Press
Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award for African American Poets
Any African American poet, whether previously published or not, may submit a book-length manuscript for consideration.
Do not include illustrations, essays, short fiction, or other material that is not poetry.
Compensation: $500 in cash and publication of the manuscript by Broadside Lotus Press within the first three months of 2025, as well as free copies and discounts.
Submissions Due: March 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
CAAPP Book Prize
The prize is awarded annually to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African American, African, or African diasporic experiences.
The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation.
Compensation: The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press and its author will be awarded $3,000.
Submissions Due: Feb 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
All One One All
Regenerative Farm Residency
At AOOA, our work extends beyond the fields and kitchen and encompasses a vibrant community of individuals passionate about the interplay between nature, agriculture, and art.
We invite artists who share our enthusiasm for exploring biodiverse and productive landscapes to join us! Our farm offers a lively, picturesque, and inspiring atmosphere to explore.
Submissions Due: Feb 28th
Compensation: Meet-the-artist event, artists showcase, and art show that culminates in the Fall.
Info + Submissions: HERE
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Arts/Industry Residencies
Arts/Industry provides artists a place to make their artwork in tandem with the skilled craftspeople who work for Kohler Co. The program is rooted in the collaborative efforts between contemporary artists and industrial artisans, resulting in brilliant works of art.
Artists need not have experience working with clay or metal, but an interest in adapting industrial processes to their practice and an openness to the factory environment is needed.
Compensation: Artists-in-residence have access to studio space in the factory twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, they receive free industrial materials, use of equipment, technical support, photographic services, housing, round-trip transportation, and a weekly honorarium.
Submissions Due: Feb 28th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Indigenous Writer in Residence
Located in the heart of the Adirondack Park, on the lands of the Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Eligibility: The residency is open to Indigenous writers over 21 years of age who write poetry, plays/screenplays, fiction/short stories, and/or nonfiction.
Expectations: It is expected that each resident will offer two evening readings/discussion during the residency, one for students at the station and one for local residents, these programs will be planned in conjunction with CLBS
Compensation: The residency is fully subsidized and provides housing, food, and workspace space at no cost. In addition, the selected artist will receive a stipend/travel allowance of $1,000.
Submissions Due: Feb 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Realities Festival Commission
Realities Festival is a dynamic interactive exhibition about one of the biggest issues of our time: Misinformation.
We are looking to commission new concepts or projects currently in development.
Medea is excited to invite innovative artists from the UK and beyond to propose projects and works that address themes of misinformation through interactive play.
Eligibility: The application is open to artists, artist collectives or arts organizations.
Compensation: £10,000 commission and additional exhibition opportunities.
Submissions Due: Feb 2nd
Info + Submissions: HERE
Forecast Mentorship for Art and Culture Practitioners
Apply for a chance to work with renowned mentors across various creative fields in our international mentorship program.
Submissions Due: Feb 10th, at 11:59 CET
Compensation: Artist fee, production budget, mentorship, and professional network expansion.
Info + Submissions: HERE
Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest
Seeks fictional short stories for its 11th annual Imagine Little Tokyo short story contest in the categories of English language, Japanese language and youth (18 and younger).
The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness of Little Tokyo through a creative story (Must take place in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles)
Compensation: 500 USD + publication in Rafu Shimpo and on the Discover Nikkei and Little Tokyo Historical Society websites
Submissions Due: Feb 29th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Flame Tree Publishing
Seeking: Afrofuturist Short Stories
Guidelines:
Reprints are accepted
If submitting multiple stories, please submit one story per email.
The subject line of the email must be the same as the story title and the file name for the submission.
If the story name starts with A or The, make certain to use it at the beginning of the file name.
The story file must be attached to the email as .docx, .doc or .rtf
Please only use spaces between words in the title.
Story lengths between 2000–4000 words are generally the most successful, stories near this length will still be read.
Please state if your submission is being sent to other publications
Compensation: Up to 240 USD
Submissions Due: Unstated
Submissions: afrofuturism@flametreepublishing.com
PUBLIC 72: (Searching For) Home
Seeking Proposals that address “home” through a variety of complex themes, such as: Indigenous rights to land and territory, migration and immigration, living in exile, war and conflict, transnational solidarities ,housing, homelessness and tenant rights, encampments, un/belonging, accessibility, relational being, dreams, and more.
What is the meaning of home? What happens when the place you live in becomes unlivable? How does migration, forced or voluntary, complicate issues of home and un/belonging?
Interested authors are asked to submit proposals which include an abstract (250 words max.), working title, up to five keywords, and a short bio (150 words max).
Compensation: Unstated
Submissions Due: Feb 21st
Info + Submissions: HERE
PUBLIC 72: (Searching For) Home
Seeking: Artwork
What is the meaning of home? What happens when the place you live in becomes unlivable? How does migration, forced or voluntary, complicate issues of home and un/belonging?
For photo and visual art submissions, please include a brief artist statement (250 words max.), images and/or link to media, and a short bio (150 words max).
Compensation: Unstated
Submissions Due: Feb 21st
Info + Submissions: HERE
imagineNATIVE (Native, Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Peoples)
Indigenous Film and Media Arts Festival
Accepting submissions of Film + Video, Digital + Interactive, and Audio works.
The upcoming 25th annual Festival will take place in-person at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto from June 3-8, 2025, and move to our online streaming and iNdigital platforms from June 9-15, 2025.
Submissions Due: Feb 7th
There is a $5 CAD submissions fee. For a fee waiver contact submissions@imagineNATIVE.org
Info + Submissions: HERE
Flowersong Press (Filipina/o/x)
Seeking: Poetry Submissions from Filipina/o/x peoples
Please send poems for a diasporic Filipina/o/x poetry anthology with roots in orality.
If you identify as a diasporic Filipina/o/x poet, please send us your best poetries informed by oral tradition, by our native/indigenous modes of chanting and storytelling, by our traditions of recitation and activism, by our participation in poetry slam, spoken word and performance poetry scenes, hip-hop — rigorous on the page and in language.
Submissions Due: March 31st
Compensation: Unstated
Info + Submissions: HERE
** US BASED OPPORTUNITIES **
National Endowment for the Arts
Creative Writing Fellowships program
Offers grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) and poetry to published creative writers that enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement.
Individual U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. who meet specific publication requirements are eligible to apply.
Compensation: Up to 50,000
Submissions Due: March 12th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Bader and Simon Empowerment Grant
Offering a one-time stipend to US-Based individuals and emerging artists without an MA/ MFA and extensive exhibition experience.
the Empowerment Grant will bring much-needed attention to underrepresented voices and themes. Art will be used to elicit dialogue, inquiry, and understanding to broaden the impact of our work.
Compensation: 7,500
Submissions Due: Feb 25th
Info + Submissions: HERE
The Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Honors the best self-published eBooks by an African-American author in the genres of Fiction and Poetry.
Compensation: $2,500.00 Award, Formal recognition at the Black Caucus of ALA Literary Awards, BCALA Ebook Award Digital Seal to use in marketing
Submissions Due: Feb 29th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Long Meadow Art Residency
Offers a solo residency set in a breathtaking and tranquil environment. Designed to provide artists with uninterrupted time to engage with their practice, the residency fosters artistic growth through reflection and exploration.
Eligibility:
Minimum age: 25
Current resident of the United States
Valid Driver’s License
Compensation: Awards residencies 6 weeks to 3 months in duration with a stipend of $3,000 per month and supply budget of up to $2,500. During their stay, residents are provided with a house, an art studio, and the use of a car.
Submissions Due: Feb 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
NEWFEST New Voices Filmmaker Grant (LGBTQ+)
An ongoing initiative in partnership with Netflix to support emerging LGBTQ+ directors with funding to create new work – in addition to mentorship, networking, and professional development opportunities!
Must Currently live in the US, have resided in the US continuously for at least the past two years, and plan to reside in the US for the full duration of the grant period (through June 2026), regardless of the filmmaker’s citizenship or immigration status.
Compensation: 25,000
Submissions Due: February 13th
Info + Submissions: HERE
U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program 2025-2026
Artists participate as seekers, as cultural visionaries, and as living liaisons to the traditional and contemporary cultural life of Japan. They also serve as connectors who share knowledge and bring back knowledge. By living and working in Japan for at least 3-5 months, their interaction with the Japanese public and the outlook they bring home provide exceptional opportunities to promote cultural understanding between the United States and Japan.
Must be a US Citizen or Permanent Resident, living and working primarily in the U.S
Compensation: $20,000 for a minimum of three months with $4,000 for each additional month up to five months. This is meant to cover housing, living, and professional expenses + Up to $2,500 for round-trip travel will also be provided as reimbursement.
Submissions Due: February 28th (For spring events taking place April 1 - June 30, 2025)
Info + Submissions: HERE
Rhina P. Espaillat Award for Undergraduates
This prize celebrates original poems written in Spanish with the English translation and translations of English poems to Spanish.
Open to Undergraduate student poets who are enrolled in a United States College or University.
Compensation: 1,000
Submissions Due: Feb 17th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Veterans Writing Award
We invite unpublished, full-length manuscripts for consideration.
The award is open to U.S. veterans and active duty personnel in any branch of the U.S. military and their immediate family members. This includes spouses, domestic partners, siblings, parents, and children. We encourage women veteran writers, veterans of color, Native American veterans, LGBTQ veterans, and those who ideHEREntify as having a disability to submit.
Compensation: $1,000 cash prize and a publication contract with Syracuse University Press. Manuscripts of high merit not selected for the final award may receive honorable mention.
Submissions Due: Feb 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships
Among the largest awards offered to young poets in the US, intended to support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age.
Eligibility:
If you are turning 21 or are 31 at any time in 2025 you are eligible to apply.
Applicants must be US citizens or currently reside in the US.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate a clear commitment to poetry.
One of the Poetry Foundation’s priorities when selecting the 2025 Fellows is to support poets who have not had substantial institutional support in their careers thus far.
Compensation: $27,000
Submissions Due: March 3rd, 5PM CST
Info + Submissions: HERE
** US BASED By REGION **
WFF Housing Stability Grant for Artists (NYC Artists)
For NYC-based visual artists in need who are seeking support for stable housing.
Offered in recognition of the increasing unaffordability of rental housing in New York City, and the housing insecurity it creates for artists. Its goal is to improve artists’ housing stability, through a grant that is distributed over three years.
Recipients may use the funds for new housing which reduces their rent obligation, guarantees a stable rental obligation such as a lengthy lease in their existing or new housing, and/or provides greater access to live/work space.
Compensation: 30,000
Applications Accepted: Feb 11th - Apr 8th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award ( N + S Dakota)
This Award introduces emerging writers to the New York City literary community and aims to provide promising writers a network for professional advancement, and has helped to launch the careers of Sue Monk Kidd (The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees), David Mura (Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei), among others.
Eligibility: Poets and fiction writers who are residents of North Dakota or South Dakota are eligible to apply if they:
Reside in North Dakota or South Dakota presently and for at least two years prior to the application deadline, which is March 1, 2025.
Have never published a book or have published no more than one full-length book in the genre in which they are applying.
Compensation:
$500 honorarium.
An all-expenses-paid trip to New York City in fall 2025 to meet with editors, agents, publishers, and other writers, and to give a public reading, hosted by Poets & Writers.
A one-month residency at the Jentel Artist Residency Program in Wyoming.
Submissions Due: March 2nd
Info + Submissions: HERE
Readings & Workshops Grants (New York & California)
This program pays fees to writers who participate in public readings or teach creative writing workshops in diverse community settings.
We offer three grant types to help meet the needs of a variety of presenters:
The Mini-Grant for individual readings ($150 to $450 per session) and/or workshops ($200 to $300 per session)
The Readings Series Grant for writers participating in a reading series (up to $1,500 per series)
The Festival Grant for writers participating in readings and/or creative writing workshops that are part of a literary festival (up to $1,500 per festival)
Note: For each grant type, a sponsoring organizer must act as the lead applicant in collaboration with the writer(s).
Compensation: In New York State, we award up to $3,000 annually per sponsoring organization across all three grant opportunities; in California, the annual cap per organization per year is $1,500.
Submission Due: March 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Mississippi Arts Commission
MAC’s Artist Fellowship program is focused on honoring Mississippi artists who demonstrate the ability to create exemplary work in their chosen field.
FY26 Categories: Creative nonfiction, screenwriting, and playwriting, Multimedia and Filmmaking, Music Performance, Solo Vocal, Instrumental, Theatre (Acting), Storytelling Performance, Visual Arts among many others.(Check Listing)
Compensation: Up to $5,000
Submissions Due: March 1st
Info + Submissions: HERE
** UK BASED OPPORTUNITIES **
Autograph Artist-Teacher Residencies (London, UK)
Fully funded residencies offering time and space to develop a new body of work that explores the relationship between personal creative practice and teaching.
For London-based secondary art and photography teacher from the global majority.
Residencies run 6 months starting September 2025 or 2026
Please note residencies take place in your classroom + a curated presentation
Submissions Due: February 3rd
Compensation: 20,000 Pounds
Info + Submissions: HERE
*** Rollover from last Month ***
Sundress Academy for the Arts
Summer Residency for Black and/or Indigenous Writers
Compensation: Full fellowship (a week-long farmhouse residency) + invitation to apply for a $350 support grant to help cover the costs of food, travel, childcare, and/or any other needs while they are at the residency.
The application fee is waived for all writers of color as well as any writer applying for financial need. Please state this in your application under the financial need section. All paid application fees will fund support grants for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers.
Submissions Due: Feb 1st
Info + Submissions: HERE
Sundress Academy for the Arts
Summer Residency for Writers of Colour
Compensation: Full fellowship (a week-long farmhouse residency)
The application fee is waived for all writers of color as well as any writer applying for financial need. Please state this in your application under the financial need section. All paid application fees will fund support grants for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers.
Submissions Due: Feb 1st
Info + Submissions: HERE
The Biographers International Organization
The Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship
For authors working on a biographical work about an African American figure or figures whose story provides a significant contribution to our understanding of the Black experience.
Memoirs and autobiographies are not eligible.
Compensation: 5,000 + a year’s membership in BIO, registration to the annual BIO Conference, and publicity through BIO’s marketing channels.
Submissions Due: February 1st
Info + Submissions: HERE
Three Penny Review
Accepting: Stories, Poetry, Table- Talk pieces, Memoirs and Critical Articles.
Critical articles should be about 1200 to 2500 words
Table Talk items 1000 words or less
Stories and memoirs 4000 words or less
Poetry 100 lines or less (Exceptions are occasionally possible, but longer pieces will have a much harder time getting accepted.)
We prefer to read prose submissions that are double-spaced; poetry can be single-spaced or double-spaced.
Compensation: 200 - 400 USD
Submissions Open: Jan 1st - April 15th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Wave Farm’s Residency + Radio Art Fellowship
Welcomes submissions from artists, researchers, tinkerers, and writers, from a variety of disciplines who will embrace this opportunity to create work for a terrestrial radio station that celebrates risk-taking work and prioritizes the uniquely urgent and intimate nature of the radio medium.
Artists-in-residence will spend 10-days on-site at Wave Farm (Acra, NY) developing a new 55-minute radio artwork designed explicitly for terrestrial radio broadcast on Wave Farm’s creative community radio station WGXC 90.7-FM: Radio for Open Ears
Radio Art Fellows will dedicate a month-long remote engagement researching and selecting radio artworks by historical and contemporary artists to comprise an episode of the The Radio Art Hour.
Compensation: Artists-in-residence $1000, Radio Art Fellows $2000
Accommodations + being featured on Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM: Radio for Open Ears in NY’s Upper Hudson Valley + a live interview about your work.
An additional $1,500 will be awarded to a single resident as part of the Rising Tide Award which aims to support an applicant with a multidimensional life and background, whose work is rooted in process, to further the pursuit of new ideas, experiments, and uncertainties.
** Additional radio broadcast opportunities are also available upon request.**
NOTE: Residents and Fellows must pay for their own travel expenses* on a case-by-case basis, an advance of the artist fee or fellowship stipend will be made available to help offset travel expenses.
Submissions Due: February 1st
Info + Submissions: HERE
** Regional U.S Based Opportunities **
New Mexico Writers Annual Grant (New Mexico)
Accepting applications for: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, playwriting, and screenwriting.
Compensation: Between 500 - 2000
Submissions Due: February 28th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Douglas Preston Travel Grant (New Mexico)
Supports an author’s travel needs in the service of a writing project.
Compensation: 1000
Submissions Due: February 28th
Info + Submissions: HERE
Preston Young Writers Grant (New Mexico)
This new grant is intended to assist an aspiring young writer between the ages of 18 and 25 obtain professional experience, networking, and training.
The grant provides for an annual Emerging Writer membership in The Authors Guild—the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers—and access to the professional development tools the Guild offers.
It also provides funds to attend a literary conference, with opportunities to learn about the writing and publishing world, attend workshops and sessions, meet with agents and editors, and connect with other writers.
Compensation: Applicants may request a specific amount of funding to support their work as needed.
Info + Submissions: HERE
** Publication Copy as Compensation **
Vulpecula Poetica
Fortuna Major Press invites emerging and established poets to submit creative nonfiction poetry for its annual anthology, Vulpecula Poetica.
This edition's theme focuses on memory, inviting works that speak into silence and the echoes of the past.
Delve into your origins. Speak into silence. Bring Vulpecula your poems saturated (or haunted) by places and people of another time.
Submissions Due: February 28th
Compensation: All included contributors will receive a complementary digital copy of the magazine.
Info + Submissions: HERE
Until next month! <3