Hello Friends,
Christmas is only three weeks away and another year is almost over… Get a lot of new ideas and encouragement for the next twelve months in this December Newsletter. Apply for one or more of the writing contests and fellowships listed here, or find freelance writing opportunities:
Content of this Newsletter:
- Giller Prize
- Writing Contests
- Freelance Writing
- Fellowships
Writing in two languages, I need to use a grammar/spell-checking tool. Seeing these "16 Embarrassing Writing Mistakes to Avoid”, I feel, I am not alone. While those errors make an excellent lesson for language learners, it’s often native English speakers who make them. Pretty embarrassing, or what do you think?
https://www.writerswrite.co.za/16-embarrassing-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/
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RESIDENCIES AT US-NATIONAL PARKS
There are programs for visual artists, writers, musicians, and other creative media. Programs vary, but residencies are typically 2 to 4 weeks in length. Often artists are invited to participate in park programs by sharing their art with the public
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/arts/air.htm
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GILLER PRIZE
Calgary-based novelist Suzette Mayr has recently won the 2022 Giller Prize, awarded annually to a Canadian author of a short story or novel in English, for her The Sleeping Car Porter. The story of a gay Black Canadian train porter on a cross-Canadian railway journey, the book was praised by the jury as bringing to life “believably, achingly, thrillingly – a whole world contained in a passenger train moving across the Canadian vastness, nearly 100 years ago.”
WRITING CONTESTS
Thriller First Pages Contest
Entries for this contest will include a one- to two-sentence book summary followed by no more than 1,000 words from the beginning of your book. First prize $650, second prize $350, third prize $100. Fourth prize $100.
The entry fee is $19 and includes a workshop where we announce the winners and offer teaching to all entrants on the genre by the contest judge. Deadline Dec 15
https://writersinstitute.lpages.co/ifw-thriller-first-pages-contest/
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Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Best First Crime Novel
Prize: $10,000. Restrictions: The Competition is open to any writer, regardless of nationality, aged 18 or older, who has never been the author of any published novel (except that authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work) and is not under contract with a publisher for publication of a novel. Genre: Murder or other serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story. Deadline: December 16
https://us.macmillan.com/minotaurbooks/writing-competitions/
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Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Any topic, provided it is related to the domain of ethics. We appeal to college students to send us essays. First Prize $10,000. Second Prize $5,000. Third Prize $3,000. 3,000 to 4,000 words. Deadline Dec 30
https://eliewieselfoundation.org/prize-in-ethics/
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Four Quartets Prize
The Four Quartets Prize is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in the U.S. in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book. The winner will receive an additional $20,000. Three finalists will receive $1,000 each. Fourteen pages of published poems unified by subject, form, and style is the minimum per submission. Sorry, self-published work is not eligible. Deadline Dec 31
https://poetrysociety.org/awards/four-quartets-prize/four-quartets-prize-2
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Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Books must be written in English and published and copyrighted in 2022 to be eligible for the 2023 prize. Prize 10,000. Winners are required to participate in media interviews and publicity opportunities in conjunction with the prize. Self-published works (including works printed by vanity or subsidy presses) are not eligible for consideration. There are four awards: one for a work of fiction, one for poetry, one for nonfiction, and one for lifetime achievement. Deadline Dec 31
http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/submissions/#guidelines
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Crime: First Chapters Competition
The winning Crime: First Prize: £1500. Second Prize: £300. Third Place: £100. Submit a 300-word One-Pager (plot synopsis) and the opening chapters of your Crime Thriller (5,000 words maximum). In 2022-2023, we are offering 50 Free Entry Bursaries across all our competitions to writers on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. £20 Entry Fee. Deadline Dec 31
https://theplazaprizes.com/competition/crime-masterpiece/
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Orna Ross Green Stories Novel Prize
Our mission is to create a cultural body of work that entertains and informs about green solutions, inspires green behavior, and raises awareness of the necessary transformations toward a sustainable economy. Typically novels are 60,000 – 95,000 words. Submit 3 chapters (minimum of 4,000 words, maximum 10,000 words) as one document. Open to all adults (18+) of any nationality, as long as the submission is in English and has not been published elsewhere. Pays £1000 for the winner and £500 for the runner-up. No Entry Fee. Deadline Jan 3, 2023.
https://www.greenstories.org.uk/upcoming-competitions/orna-ross-adult-novel-prize/
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Memoir: First Chapters Competition
First Prize: £1500. Second Prize: £300. Third Place: £100. Memoirs can be in any style or form, but must be in English, and written for adults. Submit a 300-word One-Pager (summary of your Memoir), and the opening chapters of your Memoir (5,000 words maximum). You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. £20 Entry Fee. Deadline Jan 31
https://theplazaprizes.com/competition/memoir-masterpiece/
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FREELANCE WRITING
Daily Remedy
News articles run between 400 and 1,000 words. Pays is $1/word.
All articles should be directed to the Editorial Features Editor at info@daily-remedy.com. We prefer articles that editorialize on popular health topics using novel, nontraditional methods of analysis. Pitches should be brief, with a single paragraph explaining the story idea. We prefer articles that editorialize on popular health topics using novel, nontraditional methods of analysis. Features run between 2,000 and 2,500 words.
https://www.daily-remedy.com/write-for-us/
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Better Homes & Gardens
Looking for new, experienced freelance writers for upcoming evergreen commerce articles. Previous experience is required. Rates start at $600. Please email resumes and press clips to Brittany Romano, Senior Editor at BRomano@DotDashMDP.com
https://www.bhg.com/about-better-homes-and-gardens-5525299
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Air Quality News
Our editorial team investigates the problems associated with air pollution and reports on possible solutions, and we partner with the best solution providers to showcase the latest technologies & services to help tackle air quality. We're looking for environment-focused stories which could touch on the cost of living, transport, and health. Send me your ideas: newstart@spacehouse.co.uk. For rates, we’re looking at around £200, but depends on word count.
https://airqualitynews.com/aqn-magazine/
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The Food Section
The Food Section is actively seeking freelance contributors to add their voices to the newsletter’s mix, with a particular emphasis on reported stories that reflect the diversity of the South. We pay $1,000 for a feature story, which runs about 1,200 words. Just about every story has a food angle, but for The Food Section’s purposes, that story must unfold in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia (or the northernmost reaches of Florida).
https://thefoodsection.substack.com/p/how-to-write-for-the-food-section
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LinkedIn/The Content Studio
The Content Studio is looking for a few freelance writers to work on a client project. The client is LinkedIn, and the project is a glossary of top-of-funnel, search-optimized articles focused on phrases like "cross-selling" and "lead generation." Articles will be ~2,000 words. There is an opportunity for a long-term contract. The Content Studio is paying $1,000 per piece, and writers will have detailed outlines to work from. Writers will also be able to put the LinkedIn logo in their portfolios. U.S citizens, to apply send your three best writing same to tommy@thecontentstudio.com.
https://www.thecontentstudio.com/
GRANTS - FELLOWSHIPS
Patrick Henry Writing Fellowship
Fellowship amount: $45,000 stipend. Nonfiction book in progress. The project should address the history and/or legacy – broadly defined – of the American Revolution and the nation’s founding ideas. It might focus on the founding era itself, or on the myriad ways the questions that preoccupied the nation’s founders have shaped America’s later history. Besides the stipend, are health benefits, faculty privileges, a book allowance, and a nine-month residency (during the academic year) in historic Chestertown, MD, included. Deadline: December 15
https://www.washcoll.edu/learn-by-doing/starr/Fellowships/patrick_henry_fellowship/index.php
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Cove Park Residencies
The Funded Residencies are aimed at those who urgently require the time, care, financial support, and facilities we offer to focus upon and develop their own professional practice. Cove Park is located on a 50-acre site overlooking Loch Long on Scotland’s west coast. The site benefits from both an outstanding rural location and proximity to Glasgow. Deadline Dec 5
https://covepark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FUNDED-RESIDENCIES-2023_2024-APPLICATION-GUIDELINES-.pdf
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Outpost Residency
Outpost is a residency for creative writers of color from the U.S. and Latin America. Each September, two writers are awarded a $2,000 stipend as well as complimentary travel, lodging, and meals to spend a month cultivating a generative writing community in the mountains of Southern Vermont. In addition to the time spent in residence, Outpost Fellows will engage in organized interactions with the community of local universities and bookstores, allowing space to share their work and expand their networks. Deadline Jan 15
https://www.outposttheresidency.org/
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Jack Hazard Fellowships
Fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir writers who teach full-time in an accredited high school in the U.S. are invited. $5,000 prize award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer.
https://www.newliteraryproject.org/jack-hazard-fellowship-apply
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The Good Hart Artist Residency
They offer 10-21 day residency stays to visual artists, writers, and composers at any stage of their career. Each artist is housed in a private residence with a detached studio and provided with a $500 stipend, a kitchen stocked with basic foods, a few home-cooked meals from local hosts, and a quiet setting along the shores of Lake Michigan. Tucked into the woods along the "Tunnel of Trees," a Scenic Heritage Route, residents can walk into the village of Good Hart, enjoy Lake Michigan and the nearby sand dunes, and explore Northern Michigan's inland lakes and wetlands. The Good Hart Artist residency generally hosts one resident at a time, offering each artist the time, space, and quiet to focus and create. Deadline January 11, 2023.
https://goodhartartistresidency.org/residency-overview/
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Artist Fellowships for Tennessee Citizens
Fellowships provide those individuals who by education, experience, or natural talent engage in a particular art form or discipline, and live and work in Tennessee. To qualify, an artist must be financially compensated for his or her work, and this compensation must be a significant source of support for their livelihood. The Commission anticipates that each fellowship recipient will be awarded $5,000. Deadline January 23, 2023.
https://tnartscommission.org/grants/individual/
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The Nine Dots Prize
The 2022/2023 prize question is "Why has the rule of law become so fragile?" The Nine Dots Prize is a prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues. Entrants are asked to respond to a question in 3,000 words, with the winner receiving $100,000 to write a short book expanding on their ideas. The winner receives editorial support and their book published by Cambridge University Press, the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at Cambridge University, and $100,000 USD. No entry fee. Deadline January 23, 2023.
https://ninedotsprize.org/submit/
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For those who are writing as a freelancer, or those you pondering it, here are dozens of paying freelance jobs:
https://makealivingwriting.com/how-to-find-food-writing-jobs/
https://thewritelife.com/health-magazines/
https://makealivingwriting.com/senior-magazines/
https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/uncategorized/20-trade-magazines-that-pay-freelance-writers/
https://liisbeth.com/contributors/guidelines/
It’s this time of year when we look back and also forward to new horizons. But most important: to want to be thankful for all we have been given this past year. Writing opportunities, a family and many friends, good health, and a joyful life - compared to most people in this world, who know only hunger, resentment, war, and death. We are really blessed!
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