Vineyard Writer Fellowships

The Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing is proud to offer fellowships to Martha's Vineyard island writers. These fellowships were designed to give time and financial support to Vineyard writers to devote a week to their craft at MVICW. The fellowship offers funding to attend programs held by the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.The fellowships are open to part-time and full-time Vineyard Residents age 16 and older, and we are particularly interested in offering one (of the two) full fellowships to an island high school junior or senior who plans to pursue creative writing for their future.

FELLOWSHIP PRIZES:

Two Full Fellowship Winners (one prose and one poetry) will receive registration to the second week (June 16 - June 21) of the MVICW Summer Writers’ Conference and a manuscript session.

Two Second-Place Fellowship Winners (one prose and one poetry) will receive 50% toward registration for the second week (June 16 - June 21) of the MVICW Summer Writers’ Conference

Please note: Previous First Prize Fellowship & Contest Winners (who attended the in-person conference) are not eligible to apply. Second-place winners and all virtual conference winners are eligible.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN THE TITLE, FILE NAME, SUBMISSION, OR LETTER OF INTEREST. Submissions will be judged anonymously.

For Poetry Submissions

• Letter of Interest (approx. 750 words): Please tell us about who you are as a person and an artist. We'd like to hear about your life on the island, your artistic career, and your creative work. If you have specific needs (financial or creative) which would be met by this award please outline them in your letter.
• Submit your single best poem (1-3 pages max)

For Prose Submissions

• Letter of Interest (approx. 750 words): Please tell us about who you are as a person and an artist. We'd like to hear about your life on the island, your artistic career, and your creative work. If you have specific needs (financial or creative) which would be met by this award please outline them in your letter.
• Submit one short story OR one flash fiction piece OR novel excerpt OR creative nonfiction entry. (The submission should not exceed 3,000 words)

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES:

• Payment is $20 per submission. You are welcome to submit more than one piece by submitting them separately and paying the submission fee for each entry.
• The entry must be submitted in English and must be your own original work.
• You may submit new or previously published material. As the manuscripts will not be published/reprinted, the author retains all rights to the work.
• There is no restriction to style, content, or genre.
• You must be an island resident age 16 years old or older on the day the retreat begins to enter.
• The submission must not include your real or pen name or any information that identifies you in any way.
• You must submit before midnight on the deadline date.
• Previous First Prize Fellowship & Contest Winners (who attended the in-person conference) are not eligible to apply. However, second-place winners and all virtual conference winners are eligible.

DETAILS ON AWARDS AND RULES:

Full fellowship recipients will receive registration to the second week of MVICW Summer Writers’ Conference and a manuscript session. Runner-up recipients will receive 50% toward registration for the MVICW Summer Writers’ Conference.

You are not eligible to enter the competition if you are (a) our employee or independent contractor of MVICW; (b) a family member (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) of our employees; (c) a judge involved in the competition, including any reviewer who participates in selecting the nominees and finalists; (d) a close friend of the judge so that the judge can identify your work; (e) a previous MVICW full fellowship/first place contest winner. However, first place winners of our Virtual Conference Fellowships are eligible to apply in hopes of winning attendance to our in-person conference.

We will notify potential winners via telephone or email. If potential winners decline the prize or fail to respond within seven (7) days after the first contact, the winners will be deemed to forfeit the prize and MVICW has the right to select alternate potential winner(s) in their place.