3135-0112 Creative Writing Poetry Fellowship Application Form and

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

A Complete Application consists of:
1: Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Individual Form ............................................ 2
2: Complete and Attach Required Items to the Attachments Form .......................................... 4
ATTACHMENT 1: WRITING SAMPLE........................................................................................ 5
ATTACHMENT 2: PUBLICATIONS TO ESTABLISH ELIGIBILITY .................................................. 6
Applications that are determined to be incomplete or ineligible will be rejected without panel
review.
For complete application guidelines, including information about eligibility requirements,
application review criteria, and Frequently Asked Questions, please visit the National
Endowment for the Arts Website here: https://www.arts.gov/grants/creative-writingfellowships
If you have questions about your application, contact the Literary Arts staff at 202-682-5034 or
LitFellowships@arts.gov.
OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires TBD

1|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

1: Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Individual Form
NOTE: All asterisked (*) items and yellow fields on this form are required and must be
completed before you will be able to submit the form. Do not type in all capital letters when
completing the form. Enter information directly into the form. Do not copy from an old grant
opportunity package or another document and paste into the form.
1. Name of Federal Agency: Pre-populated.
2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: Pre-populated.
3. Date Received: This will be filled automatically with the date that you submit your
application; leave blank.
4. Funding Opportunity Number: Pre-populated.
5. Applicant Information:
a. Name and Contact Information: Enter your legal name and your email address. If you use
a pen name, you will have an opportunity to list it with your Summary of Applicant
Publications. All transactions with the NEA must be made using the applicant’s legal name.
Be sure to enter your email address (you will only be notified about the status of your
application via email). Contact information must be valid through December 2023. You must
notify us of any changes.
Due to restrictions from the Department of Homeland Security we are not able to send
emails to alias addresses that forward to another email account. Do not enter this type of
email address.
b. Address: Enter information for your permanent address. Information must be valid
through December 2023.
Use Street 1 for your street address or post office box number, whichever is used for your
U.S. Postal Service mailing address. Street 2 is not a required field and should be used only
when a Suite or Room Number or other similar information is part of your address. Do not
use Street 2 to provide a second address.
In the Zip/Postal Code box, enter the full 9-digit zip code (00000-0000) that was assigned by
the U.S. Postal Service. If you do not know your full zip code, you may look it up at
https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm .
c. Citizenship Status: If you are a lawful permanent resident of the United States, provide
your Alien Registration Number.
2|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

d. Congressional District of Applicant: Enter the Congressional District that corresponds to
your permanent address. Use the following format: 2 character State Abbreviation-3
character District Number. For example, if you live in the 5th Congressional District of
California, enter "CA-005." If your state has a single At-Large Representative or your
jurisdiction has a single Delegate, enter your 2-character state/jurisdiction abbreviation and
"-000." If you need help determining your district, visit the House of Representatives
website at http://www.house.gov/ and use the "Find Your Representative" tool.
6. Project Information:
a. Project Title: Give your project a title that you will also use as the title in the header of
your writing sample. This may be the title of your complete piece or the title of the first
piece in a writing sample that includes multiple pieces. Do not include your first or last
name in your project title.
b. Project Description: In two or three sentences, briefly describe how you see your work
being advanced by this fellowship. This may include writing, research, travel, etc. List the
title(s) of the work(s) you are submitting. (Note: Our staff will see the project description,
but the panelists will not. Our panelists will only review the submitted writing samples.)
c. Proposed Project Start Date/End Date: Enter your preferred beginning and ending dates.
The beginning date must fall between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, and the period
of performance may extend up to two years. Your period of performance must begin on the
first day of the month and end on the last day of the month.
7. Signature Block:
By clicking the "I Agree" box, you are certifying that your application is true and correct to the
best of your knowledge and that you are in compliance with relevant federal requirements that
can be found in the Assurance of Compliance section of our guidelines. The "Signature" and
"Date Signed" boxes will be populated by Grants.gov upon submission of the application.

3|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

2: Complete and Attach Required Items to the Attachments Form
The "Attachments Form" is not a form in the conventional sense. Rather, it is a place to attach
documents that you have completed and saved elsewhere on your computer.
1. The Attachments are non-form documents that must be submitted as PDF files.
Non-form documents can be created using any word processing software. When you have
completed the document, save it to your computer and convert it to PDF before attaching.
Do not create PDFs of your electronic documents by scanning. PDFs created by scanning
are much larger, of lower quality, and are less accessible than PDFs created from a word
processing document. Be sure to use the “Save as PDF” feature of your word processor to
create your PDF document.
Do not embed non-printable media files (video and/or sound) in your PDF documents.
Static images (e.g., pictures) are acceptable. Do not enable any document security settings
or password-protect any PDF file you submit to us.
IMPORTANT: No single attachment should be more than 2 MB.
2. Label the first page of each document clearly with the name of the item (e.g., Publications).
Leave a margin of one inch at the top, bottom, and sides of all pages. Do not reduce type
below 12-point font size. Do not type in all capital letters. Number pages sequentially.
Excess pages will not be reviewed.
3. Name your files as indicated below and attach them in the proper order. Limit file names
to 50 or fewer characters and use only the following characters when naming your
attachments: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), space, and period. If you do not
follow this rule, your application may be rejected. You cannot change the name of a file on
the Attachments Form. Therefore, make certain that each file is named correctly before you
attach it.
When you open the Grants.gov Attachments Form, you will find 15 attachment buttons. For
this application, you will only use the first two (2) attachment buttons. By clicking on a button,
you will be able to choose the PDF file from your computer that you wish to attach. Be sure to
attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below.

The Attachments

When you open the Grants.gov Attachments Form, you will find 15 attachment buttons. By
clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the PDF file from your computer that you wish
to attach. Be sure to attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below. You will only
use the first 2 attachment buttons and can disregard buttons 3-15.
4|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

ATTACHMENT 1: WRITING SAMPLE
To this button, attach one copy of your writing sample. Use the following naming convention
for your file: “Your Last Name underscore (_) Sample". For example: Doe_Sample.
Your writing sample must be a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 25 typescript, double-spaced
pages of:
•
•

Fiction (e.g., short story, flash fiction, novel excerpt) and/or
Creative nonfiction (e.g., creative essay, memoir, literary journalism)

Note that applicants may submit one or more works as their writing sample, but the total
cannot exceed 25 pages. If submitting multiple excerpts or stories, combine them all into one
PDF.
Your writing sample must be:
1. From work that you have written in the time period that establishes your eligibility
(January 1, 2016 – March 8, 2023), and for which you have sole artistic responsibility.
You may submit published work, unpublished work, or work in progress. Do not indicate
whether or not the material has been published.
2. Completely free of your first name, last name, initials, address, or any other marks
that could identify you.
Important: If your first or last name appears in your writing sample or in your header,
your application will be deemed ineligible. For example, if your name is John Doe,
neither John nor Doe may appear anywhere in your writing sample.
3. Labeled to indicate title and genre of the sample. In the header of every page, include
the title and genre (either fiction or creative nonfiction) of the writing sample and the
page number in the upper right corner. The title should match the title entered as your
Project Title in your Application for Federal Domestic Assistance form and may be the
title of your complete piece or the title of the first piece in a writing sample that
includes multiple pieces.
4. In typescript and clearly readable. Use a 12-point font and margins of at least one inch
at the top, bottom, and sides of all pages. Do not submit more than the maximum
number of pages that are allowed; excess pages will be removed and not reviewed.
Have questions? Click here for an example of how to format your writing sample.
Remember to save your writing sample as a PDF in line with the guidance above (Step 2:
Complete and Attach Required Items to the Attachments Form).

5|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

ATTACHMENT 2: PUBLICATIONS TO ESTABLISH ELIGIBILITY
To this button, attach the Publications to establish your eligibility (document must be no larger
than 2 MB). Use the following naming convention for the file: “Your Last Name underscore (_)
Publications.” For example: Doe_Publications.
At the top of this page, list your legal name, your pen name (if applicable), and your email
address. Your name, initials, address, or other identifying information must not appear on
any other page of the writing sample material that is submitted.
List only the specific published works that establish your eligibility, not everything you have
published (e.g., no resumes). (See Eligibility for details.) We collect this information only to
verify eligibility; it is not provided to our reviewers.
For each publication list the:
• Title, author
• Publisher (including name of magazine or press and web address if available).
• Publication date (month and year, or volume/issue).
• Number of pages of your material. (If your work appears in an anthology, this refers to
your work within the collection, not the full book.)
• Page number(s) or an exact URL to your work if published online. If archived online,
provide the exact URL of the archived piece.
Your Publications should be formatted like the examples below:
Book
Title/Author: A Walk in the City/ John Doe
Publisher: University Press, www.up.edu
Publication Date: 12/2009
# of pages: 230
URL: n/a
Journal/Magazine
Title/Author: “Hidden Moon”/ Jane Doe
Publisher: Violet Journal, www.violetjournal.org
Publication Date/ Volume-Issue: 10/2009/ Vol. 32 Issue 4 (Fall)
# of pages: 5
Page # or URL: www.violetjournal.org/32-52/doe
Anthology
Title of Your Work/Author/Translator: “Hidden Moon”/Jane Doe
Anthology Title/Editor: Time Spent (Poems About Grantwriting), edited by M. Fed/Jill Deer
6|Page

Literature Fellowships: Prose
FY24 Application Instructions

Publisher: Small Press, www.smallpress.org
Publication Date: 06/2010
# of pages: 14
Upon request, you must provide proof of eligibility to the National Endowment for the Arts in
one or more of the following ways:
a. The title page or cover with your name and the title of the work.
b. The copyright page with the publisher's contact information, including web address and
phone number; publication date (month and year); ISBN or ISSN number, if a print
publication; or URL, if publication is online only.
c. The publication’s stated selection criteria and editorial policy.
NOTE: When you check the Certification box on the Application for Federal Domestic
Assistance-Individual Form, you are certifying that all parts of your application, including your
summary of the publications that establish your eligibility, are true and correct to the best of
your knowledge.
Leave all remaining Attachment buttons blank.

7|Page