The Big List of Deadlines for Nonfiction Writers

2025-26 grants, fellowships, prizes, and more

Welcome to The Big List of Deadlines for Nonfiction Writers!

This is a regularly updated resource for nonfiction writing grants, fellowships, residencies, and prizes throughout the year. Grants and fellowships have been transformational in my own journey as a freelance journalist, and I want all of you to know about these great opportunities.

I’m Britany, the writer behind Wild Writing and The Big List. I’ve been writing this newsletter (formerly known as One More Question) since 2020. And this particular resource gets bigger and more comprehensive every year. Many (many) hours go into making this the most robust list of opportunities for nonfiction writers on the web. And I’m keeping this page available to all for free, thanks to paid subscribers who make that possible.

If you find this resource useful, and would like to support my work through a paid subscription, I’d be thrilled. An annual paid subscription is just $40/year, or $5/monthly.

If now is not the time, I totally get it. Either way, I hope you’ll dig into this list, mark your calendars, work on those applications, edit those essays—and go get those funds and prizes!

I believe in you!

<3 Britany

Rolling Submission Windows

International Women’s Media Foundation Grants | The IWMF’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists supports the production of ambitious projects and underreported, globally important stories. For the next eight years, the IWMF will make an annual total of $230,000 worth of grants to support women and nonbinary journalists in their projects and endeavors. The fund is not limited in either the grant dollar amount or the number of grants awarded within the annual total.

Economic Hardship Reporting Project | A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that produces compelling journalism on economic inequality in America. Grant awarded to independent journalists reporting on issues related to poverty, economic class, workers’ rights, and income disparity in the U.S., and co-publish their work in partnership with major media outlets. Contributors are often journalists struggling to financially sustain themselves in the increasingly low-paying media industry.

Omidyar Network Tech Journalism Fund | Omidyar Network’s Tech Journalism Fund will provide project funding from $5,000 to $25,000 to support reporting costs for journalists working on a singular, time and resource intensive reporting project. Priority given to projects that focus on: Legislation and policy proposals on regulating AI and and the tech sector; investigative pieces on the companies, organizations, people, and ideas that are shaping the AI and tech industries; the impact of AI on children, youth, and families; and how workers, unions, companies, and employers are contending with AI and other technological advances in the workplace.

September

Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists | The National Press Foundation is offering two all-expenses-paid fellowships for the annual Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, October 20 – 22, 2025. The fellowship includes full tuition, housing, most meals (dinners not included) and round-trip transportation. Deadline: September 3

MacDowell Fellowship | About 300 artists in seven disciplines are awarded Fellowships each year and the sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. There are no residency fees, and need-based stipends and travel reimbursement grants are available to open the residency to the broadest possible community of artists. MacDowell encourages applications from artists of all backgrounds and all countries in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts. Deadline: September 10

Tarbell Center for AI Journalism Grants | The Tarbell Center for AI Journalism is offering grants of $1,000 - $15,000 for original reporting on artificial intelligence and its impacts. Deadline: September 14

Hambridge Residences | The oldest residency program in the Southeast, Hambidge provides a self-directed program that honors the creative process and trusts individuals to know what they need to cultivate their talent, whether it’s to work and produce, to think, to experiment or to rejuvenate. Residents’ time is their own; there are no workshops, critiques, nor required activities. Deadline: September 15

Best Travel Writing Solas Awards | The Solas Awards honor writers whose work inspires others to explore. They’re looking for the best stories about travel and the world funny, illuminating, adventurous, uplifting, scary, inspiring, poignant stories that reflect the unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. Deadline: September 25

The Cullman Center Fellowship | An international fellowship program through the New York Public Library, open to people whose work will benefit directly from access to the collections at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building—including academics, independent scholars, and creative writers (novelists, playwrights, poets). Visual artists at work on a book project are also welcome to apply. The Center appoints 15 Fellows a year for a nine-month term at the Library, from September through May. In addition to working on their own projects, the Fellows engage in an ongoing exchange of ideas within the Center and in public forums throughout the Library. Includes a stipend of $90,000. Deadline: September 26

Kill Your Darlings Creative Nonfiction Essay Prize | The Kill Your Darlings Creative Non-Fiction Essay Prize is a competition for essays between 2500 and 3500 words, on any subject and in any style (such as memoir, commentary, cultural criticism, reportage, etc.). All work must be new work, previously unpublished. First prize is $2500, with two runner-up prizes of $1000 each. The winner and runners-up will be notified and published in Kill Your Darlings magazine in late 2025/early 2026.

The Moth Nature Writing Prize | The Moth Nature Writing Prize, run by Ireland-based The Moth literary journal, aims to encourage and celebrate the art of nature writing. It is awarded annually to unpublished pieces of prose or poetry which best combine exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writers’ relationship with the natural world. Deadline: September 30

Boulevard Nonfiction Contest for Emerging Writers | A prize of $1,000 and publication in Boulevard is given annually for an essay by a writer who has not published a full-length book in any genre. Deadline: September 30

Slippery Elm Literary Journals’s Deanna Tulley Multimedia Contest | Send us your hypertexts, your nonlinear narratives, your videopoems, your illustrated stories! Surprise us with genres and media we hadn’t even imagined! First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded of $300, $200, and $100. Deadline: September 30

The Lascaux Prize in Creative Nonfiction | Creative nonfiction including memoirs, chronicles, personal essays, humorous perspectives, literary journalism—anything the author has witnessed, experienced, or discovered. Pieces may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Winner receives $1,000, a bronze medallion, and publication in The Lascaux Review. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: September 30

October

Dorland Mountain Arts Residency | Dorland Mountain Arts Residency offers artists, writers, musicians, and creatives the gift of focused time in a peaceful and inspiring environment. Nestled on 300 acres of protected chaparral in Southern California’s Temecula Valley, Dorland is a retreat for those seeking solitude, renewal, and deep creative work. Deadline: October 1

PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative | Part of the PEN America Writers Emergency Fund, offers grants for writers in the United States facing acute financial need following an emergency situation. To be eligible, applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Deadline: October 1

Millay Colony for the Arts Residency | Founded in 1973 and located at “Steepletop,” the historic estate of poet/activist Edna St. Vincent Millay (one of the first women to win a Pulitzer Prize), Millay Arts is a nonprofit organization that offers multidisciplinary artists residencies on our campus as well as in the community. Fall Deadline: October 1

Oregon Community Storytelling Fellowship | Awarded annually to Oregonians who belong to communities that are underrepresented in Oregon media. Each fellow receives $5,000 to support the creation of true stories—journalism, creative nonfiction, video, audio, and other media—about those communities. Stories are shared in Oregon Humanities magazine and other publications. Deadline: October 1

Stanford’s Western Media Fellowships | The Bill Lane Center for the American West has been supporting journalism about the West and its environment for more than a decade. Our Western Media Fellowships provide opportunities for journalists working in all kinds of media — newspapers, magazines, radio, television, online, multimedia, video, film, data visualization and mapping, and books. Deadline: October 6

Education Writers Association Fellowships | EWA will provide awards of up to $10,000 each to winning proposals for its full higher education fellowships. The micro-fellowship will provide up to $5,000 for smaller stand-alone stories or projects on special education. Deadline: October 6

Georgia Writers John Lewis Writing Grants | inspired by the late civil rights icon and his more than three decades of service as Georgia’s 5th District representative. The John Lewis Writing Grants will be awarded annually in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screen-playwriting. The purpose of the grants is to elevate, encourage, and inspire the voices of Black writers in Georgia. Deadline: October 10

NPF Rare Disease Reporting Fellowship and Grants | To help journalists tell stories of rare diseases and innovations to address them, the National Press Foundation is providing a week of online training in the form of fellowships. This fourth in a series of journalism fellowships will consist of on-the-record briefings and question-and-answer sessions with top experts, including topics such as childhood disease therapies, AI-driven drug development and venture capital for rare disease research. NPF will also offer up to $2,000 in reporting grants to 20 journalists to cover travel expenses and time in executing a rare diseases project of their choosing. Deadline: October 12

Propublica’s Ancil Payne Reporting Fellowship | Based in DC. The fellow will do enterprising, hard-hitting stories focusing on the many federal agencies that have been pulled into immigration enforcement, affecting government functions and people’s lives in unprecedented ways. Applicants should have at least three years but no more than seven years of professional journalism experience. Foreign language skills and trauma-informed reporting are strongly preferred. The annual salary is $75,000. Deadline: October 13.

The McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism | The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Center for Business Journalism provides experienced journalists with grants up to $15,000 and the editorial support needed to produce deeply reported enterprise and investigative stories that delve into critical economic, financial or business issues across a wide array of subjects. Deadline: October 13

Writing x Writers Residencies | One and two-week residences at multiple locations including Minnesota, Idaho, and Alaska. Winners are selected by Pam Houston. Pam Houston is the author of the short story collection Cowboys Are My Weakness, the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, and six other books of fiction and nonfiction. Deadline: October 15

Tech Policy Press Fellowship | The year-long, part-time fellowship is designed to support journalists, researchers, and public policy professionals. Applicants should come prepared with a clear area of focus and a sense of how their work will contribute to informing both the public and decision-makers. They are particularly interested in projects that center communities and regions often excluded from global tech policy conversations. Each fellow will receive a $10,000 stipend to support their work. Deadline: October 15

Writer’s Digest Personal Essay Awards | Submit an unpublished essay up to 2,000 words. Fee: $30. One Grand Prize Winner will receive $2,500, publication, and other benefits. Many smaller awards. Deadline: October 15

Business Insider Trending News Fellowship | Business Insider’s fellowship program gives early-career journalists an opportunity to make a big impact in a digital newsroom. Six-month fellowship, full-time, starts in January, pays $20/hour. Deadline: October 20

The Open Notebook’s Early-Career Fellowship Program | A paid, part-time fellowship program for early-career science journalists. Fellows work with a mentor to plan, report, and write articles for publication at The Open Notebook and become part of the TON editorial team. Includes $6,600 stipend. Deadline: October 31

November

Mesa Refuge Writing Refuge | Hosts a diverse community of writers at a coastal California retreat. Writers, both emerging and established, should offer solutions to the pressing issues of our time. Particularly, Mesa Refuge focuses on supporting writers, activists and artists whose ideas are “on the edge,” taking on the pressing issues of our time including (but not limited to): nature, environment and climate crisis; economic, racial and gender equity; social justice and restorative justice; immigration; health care access; housing; and more. residencieR are two weeks long and there is no residency fee. Deadline: November 1

Hypatia-in-the-Woods Residency | Hypatia-in-the-Woods provides and maintains Holly House, a residential retreat center for women of all creative talents, in a serene environment in Shelton, Washinton, free of the distractions of everyday life. Application windows are quarterly. Deadline: November 1

Henry Ransom Center Fellowships | Funding for graduate students, current and former academic faculty at any level of career, and independent researchers such as journalists and artists, who require archival research at the Henry Ransom Center at UT Austin for their projects. Deadline: November 3

New York Times Reporting Fellowship | The New York Times Fellowship is a one-year work program aimed at cultivating the next generation of journalists. The fellowship represents a unique opportunity to do great journalism for The Times. It incorporates speakers, feedback and training opportunities. The program’s goal is to benefit not only the participants and The Times, but also other newsrooms. Deadline: November 19

The Maine Coast Writer’s Retreat | Millay House Rockland, a literary non-profit, offers month-long retreats to writers of any genre in the home where Pulitzer-prize poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine. Located on iconic Penobscot Bay, two hours north of Portland, The Maine Coast Writer’s Retreat is self-funded, priced affordably to give you the time and space to live, write, reflect, and regroup for an entire month in a picturesque seaside town. Deadline: November 30

December

Quanta Magazine Science Writing Fellowship | This six-month program will give an early-career science journalist extensive experience writing news and features about one or more areas that Quanta covers: physics, mathematics, biology and computer science. This full-time paid fellowship will take place in-person between January and June at the Simons Foundation offices in New York City. No deadline given.

Briar Patch Creative Nonfiction Contest | Briarpatch is seeking fresh writing and photography that brings to life issues of political, social, and environmental justice. This year the categories are creative non-fiction, poetry, and documentary photography. Deadline: December 1

The Prairie Ronde Artist Residency | A residency for individuals who are highly independent, engaged and curious. Residency not limited to any specific medium, but rather are looking for diverse artists who can creatively interact with The Mill, a redevelopment project of the Lee Paper Mill—a historic paper mill that, up until its closure in 2001, was an economic driver of the Village. There are three sessions annually with 2 – 4 residents per session. Accepted residents receive a stipend of $2,000 for 5 – 6 weeks, a $500 travel grant and private housing. Deadline: December 1

Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship | In monthly sessions, fellows learn what it takes to cover the White House, Supreme Court, Congress, Pentagon, Justice Department and other key government institutions. Deadline: December 3

Narratively Memoir Prize | Submit revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. First place is $3,000 + publication in a special limited print edition.

Widening the Pipeline Fellowship | The National Press Foundation’s Widening the Pipeline Fellowship will provide virtual workshops and an in-person training in Washington, D.C., to support journalists of color staying in – and leading – the newsrooms of tomorrow. NPF welcomes U.S.-based journalists from any medium with seven years or less of professional newsroom experience to participate in this career-defining cohort. Deadline: December 14

The Fine Arts Work Center Writing Fellowships | Fellows are awarded a $1,250 monthly stipend, private accommodations on the grounds of The Fine Arts Work Center, as well as a $1,000 exit stipend to support relocation at the end of the Fellowship. The duration of the residency is entirely self-directed, intended to serve as unrestricted time for writers in the crucial, early stages of their careers. Deadline: December 15

2026

January

Black Mountain Institute 117° Residency | The 117° residency is for emerging and distinguished writers working in English who have published at least one book with a trade or literary press. This fellowship is for writers working on a project in nonfiction or poetry (or a hybrid work that includes one or both of those genres). The fellowship includes A salary of $10,000 paid over a two-month period a two-month letter-of-appointment eligibility for optional health coverage, and office space at BMI on the campus of UNLV. Deadline: January 1

Mississippi Review Prize | Prizes of $1,000 in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Winners and finalists will make up next summer's print issue of the national literary magazine Mississippi Review. Deadline: 1/1

The Jacobs/Jones African-American Literary Prize | This prize honors Harriet Jacobs and Thomas Jones, two pioneering African-American writers from North Carolina, and seeks to convey the rich and varied existence of African-American/Black North Carolinians. Sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network and administered by the Creative Writing Program at UNC-Chapel Hill. Winner receives $1,000 and possible publication of the winning entry in The Carolina Quarterly. Deadline: 1/2

Steinbeck Fellowships in Creative Writing | The program offers the opportunity to interact with other writers, faculty, and graduate students, and to share your work in progress by giving a public reading during the fellowship. Fellowships include a stipend of $15,000. Award recipients will be required to reside within the counties of the San Francisco Bay Area or adjacent counties of the California central coast or central valley during most of the fellowship period, approximately September - May. Deadline: 1/4

Jack Hazard Fellowship | For Summer 2026, fellowships of $5,000 will again be awarded to creative writers who are full-time educators teaching in accredited high schools in the United States. Deadline: January 9

Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers | $5,000 for literary or creative nonfiction book projects. The Fund supports writing that combines an engaging individual voice, literary sensibility, imagination and intellectual rigor to bring new perspectives and deeper meaning to the body of desert literature. Deadline: January 15

Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition | Encourages the creation of lasting nonfiction that is outside the realm of conventional journalism and has relevance to North Carolinians. Subjects may include traditional categories such as reviews, travel articles, profiles or interviews, place/history pieces, or culture criticism. The first-, second-, and third-place winners will receive $1,000, $300, and $200 respectively. Winning entry considered for publication by Ecotone. Deadline: 1/15

Fund for Investigative Journalism Grants | The Fund for Investigative Journalism provides grants and other support for reporters to produce high-quality, unbiased, nonpartisan investigative stories that have an impact. Freelance journalists, staff reporters and media outlets are eligible for grants, and their investigations can be for print, online or broadcast stories, books, documentaries or podcasts. Proposals are considered several times a year, including in January. Deadline: January 26

Tennessee Individual Artist Fellowships | The Individual Artist Fellowship (IAF) provides monetary awards to outstanding professional artists (i.e. those individuals who by education, experience, or natural talent engage in a particular art form or discipline) who live and work in Tennessee. Deadline January 27

Money for Women, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund | Money for Women is the oldest ongoing feminist granting agency in the US and Canada. Grants from the foundation give monetary support and encouragement to feminist writers and visual artists who identify as women, cis-women, trans-women, and/or nonbinary. Deadline: January 31

swamp pink Prizes | Previously known as the Crazyhorse Prizes, the swamp pink Prizes award $2,000 and publication for the winners in each genre, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Deadline: 1/31

Nieman Foundation Journalism Fellowship | A learning opportunity open to journalists working in all media in every country around the world. Those selected for the program spend two full semesters at Harvard auditing classes with some of the university’s greatest thinkers, participating in Nieman events and collaborating with peers. Nieman Fellows are also able to audit classes at other local universities, including MIT and Tufts. Deadline: January 31

Iowa Review Awards | Each January since 2003, The Iowa Review has invited submissions to The Iowa Review Awards, a writing contest in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Winners receive $1,500; first runners-up receive $750. Winners and runners-up are published in each December issue. Deadline: January 31

Fish Publishing Short Memoir Prize | A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,056) and publication in the Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a short memoir. Deadline: 1/31

Allen Shoup Memorial Fellowship | The goal of the Allen Shoup Memorial Fellowship is to grow consumer awareness and the perception of Washington wine by identifying and elevating emerging wine writers and communicators and making these new voices part of a community of lifelong ambassadors. Includes 1-2 trips to Washington, article placement with Decanter, and a stipend of $3,000. Opens in January, Deadline: TBD

February

Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing | Offers up to four months of unfettered writing time for a writer working on a first or second book in any literary genre. The residency provides lodging in Bucknell's "Poets' Cottage" and a stipend of $5,000. Deadline: February 1

Hypatia-in-the-Woods Residency | Hypatia-in-the-Woods provides and maintains Holly House, a residential retreat center for women of all creative talents, in a serene environment in Shelton, Washinton, free of the distractions of everyday life. Application windows are quarterly. Deadline: February 15

Allbritton Journalism Institute Reporting Fellowships | AJI is a one-of-a-kind institution in Washington: a nonprofit educational organization that trains the political journalists of the future — and partners with NOTUS to accomplish that goal. Every September, AJI welcomes a cohort of early-career reporters to D.C. for a two-year fellowship. In addition to participating in classroom training at AJI, fellows learn on the job at NOTUS, where they work as reporters and receive an annual salary of $60,000. Deadline: February 18

March

Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship | MAC’s Artist Fellowship program is focused on honoring Mississippi artists who demonstrate the ability to create exemplary work in their chosen field. The agency awards fellowships of up to $5,000 in multiple categories each year. The program is not project-based and does not require a cash match. Professional artists living and working in Mississippi are eligible to apply. Deadline: March 1

Waterman Fund Alpine Essay Contest for Emerging Writers | Writers who have not published a major work of fiction or narrative nonfiction on topics of wilderness, wildness, or the ethics and ecology of environmental issues are eligible. The Waterman Fund provides generous prize money of $3,000 for the first-place essay selection and $1,000 for a runner-up. “For 2026, we invite essays that address any or all topics related to: our relationship to the natural living world, land and place, preservation/conservation, alpine ecosystems, wild(er)ness and the deep woods.” Deadline: March 15

Maryland Creativity Grants | Supports art projects arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. The Creativity Grant for Projects is available to independent artists and arts organizations. There are two options to choose from: the Planning & Development grant is intended to support the early stages of research and development for a proposed project; the Implementation grant is intended to support the execution of a specific arts projects/event/program. Deadline: March 31

April

South Arts Grants | The Artist Creative Practice Grant supports a variety of professional development opportunities for artists in the Southern U.S. states, including milestone activities in an artist’s career that will likely lead to substantial career growth. Grants up to $3,000 are available for opportunities taking place between November 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. Deadline: April 30

More coming soon…

If you know of any opportunities that should be included here, please email me at britany.robinson@gmail.com, and I will add them!