2025 McKnight Fellowship for Writers (Creative Prose & Children's Literature for Ages 8 Years Old and Older)

McKnight Fellowships for Writers, $25,000 Loft Awards in Creative Prose and in Children’s Literature/Older Children
 

DEADLINE: 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Entries must be submitted through our online portal, Submittable, by 11:59 p.m. Please note that our office hours are not extended on that date, so please ask questions and make sure you are familiar with the application process before the deadline.

The Loft Literary Center is pleased to announce the 2025 McKnight Fellowships for Writers, made possible by the generous support of the McKnight Foundation. 

The McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship disciplines include: Printmaking (Highpoint Center), Book Arts (MCBA), Fiber Arts (Textile Center), Choreographers and Dancers (Cowles Center), Media Artists (FilmNorth), Visual Artists (MCAD), Ceramics (Northern Clay Center), Composers (American Composers Forum), Musicians (MacPhail Center), Writers (Loft Literary Center), Playwrights (Playwrights’ Center), Theater Artists (Playwrights’ Center), Culture Bearers (Indigenous Roots), and Community-Engaged Artists (Pillsbury House).
 

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The intent of the McKnight Artist and Culture Bearers Fellowships program is to recognize and support artists and culture bearers who are beyond emerging and have sustained experience in their area of practice. Fellows demonstrate achievement, commitment, and high level proficiency in artistic and/or culture bearer practice that contributes to their field and impacts and benefits people in Minnesota.

The McKnight Fellowships for Writers provide Minnesota writers who are beyond emerging with an opportunity to work on their craft for a concentrated period of time.

One $25,000 fellowship is awarded each year in children’s literature, including poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. This year’s award is offered to a writer for children 8 years of age and older, which includes the genres of Middle Grade and Young Adult literature. 

Four $25,000 fellowships are offered in alternating years to writers of creative prose and poetry/spoken word. The 2025 year cycle is in creative prose, which includes fiction and literary nonfiction such as memoir, personal essay, and autobiography.

These fellowships do not support the work of playwriting, journalism, or nonfiction that is written primarily for educational or technical use.

In addition to the award money, fellows are offered a variety of professional development opportunities, including an opportunity to participate in a fully-funded artist residency through a partnership with the Artist Communities Alliance. 

JUDGING FOR THE MCKNIGHT ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS FOR WRITERS

Prominent writers and editors living outside of Minnesota serve as the judges. There are no screening judges. All manuscripts are judged anonymously.

Due to the number of entries received, it is not possible for the judges to make individual comments on the manuscripts.

ELIGIBILITY

General Requirements

Applicants must have been legal residents of Minnesota for at least 12 months prior to the application deadline (since November 19, 2023) and must reside in Minnesota for the duration of the fellowship.

Full-time students in a degree granting program (if you're a student at the time of application and/or if you will be starting your program during the fellowship year, which begins in 2025 and goes till April 2026) are not eligible to apply.

Applicants may apply for only one McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship per year. You may not apply for the Award in Creative Prose and also apply for any other McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowships, including the Award in Children’s Literature or a McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship in an alternate discipline, such as ceramics or music.

Recipients of the McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship in any discipline in the last five years are not eligible to apply, so recipients of a 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024 McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship in any discipline are not eligible to apply. Honorable mentions are eligible. 

Recipients of a McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship prior to 2020 must demonstrate a new body of work since their last McKnight Artist and Culture Bearer Fellowship.

Loft and McKnight Foundation staff and board members are not eligible. Immediate family members of staff or board members of the Loft or McKnight Foundation are also not eligible.

If you have questions about your eligibility for the McKnight Fellowships for Writers, please email Marion Gómez, program manager of awards, at mgomez@loft.org by November 13, 2024.

Additional Requirements for the Loft Awards in Creative Prose

In addition to the general eligibility requirements, applicants must have:

• Published a book (e.g., novel, memoir, collection of short stories or personal essays) OR
• Published at least five pieces of original creative prose (fiction, creative nonfiction, or a combination of the two) in no fewer than three literary journals or magazines that regularly feature creative prose as part of their format. Work published in an online journal that has an editorial process is eligible. Work published in an anthology is eligible. The same piece printed in a journal and in an anthology may only be counted once; applicants may not use multiple publications of the same work to meet the five required pieces.
• Authors counting a self-published book for eligibility must include a brief letter from the publisher confirming that the manuscript underwent an editorial process. Please upload this in the eligibility requirements.
• Work that is pending publication and will be published before April 1, 2025, is eligible. When asked for proof of eligibility, please upload a letter from the editor or publisher stating the date of publication with proof of publication.

Additional Requirements for the Loft Award in Children’s Literature

In addition to the general eligibility requirements, applicants must have

• Published a book for children eight years of age or older, in any genre other than educational textbook material, OR
• Published at least three pieces of original work in one or more publications that regularly feature creative work for children eight years of age or older as part of their format. Work published in an online journal that has an editorial process is eligible. Work published in an anthology is eligible. The same piece printed in a journal and in an anthology may only be counted once; applicants may not use multiple publications of the same work to meet the three required pieces.
• Work that is pending publication and will be published before April 1, 2025, is eligible. Please provide a letter from the editor or publisher stating the date of publication with proof of publication.

Ineligible Work in Both Awards:

• Student-only publications
• Self-published books that did not go through an editorial process
• Work published on personal home pages or online sites that do not have an editorial process.
• Work in a genre outside the category in which you are applying (e.g., published poetry may not be used to meet the publication requirements for the Award in Creative Prose and writing for children younger than eight years of age may not be used to meet the publication requirements for the Award in Children's Literature/Older Children).
• Work that has previously won a McKnight Artist Fellowships for Writers. If you are a previous winner, you must submit a manuscript different from the one for which you received the earlier award.
• Translations.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

You must apply through Submittable, and you will need to create a Submittable account if you do not already have one. If you have technical submission questions, please contact Submittable technical support at help.submittable.com.

In addition to the form in Submittable, you will need to prepare three files to upload with your submission (see descriptions further down the page for details):

• a work sample
• proof of Minnesota residency
• proof of publication
• if self published, or have work pending publication, a letter from the editor

WORK SAMPLE

Please prepare your writing sample.  Work samples may be published writing. All work samples must be anonymous. If your name appears as part of the manuscript text, omit it, use a pseudonym, or redact it out so it is illegible. Do not include your name as part of the writing sample file name. Identifying information should only be included in the Submittable application form--these parts of the form are not accessible to the judge. Identifying information anywhere in the submitted work sample file will disqualify your submission.

Loft Awards in Creative Prose: Applicants should submit at least 20 but no more than 25 pages of a typed (12-point font), double-spaced manuscript. Pages must be consecutively numbered.

Loft Award in Children’s Literature: Applicants should submit a manuscript that is at least five but no more than 20 pages in length and that is written for ages eight and older. Manuscripts may be in prose or poetry or a combination of the two. All manuscripts must be typed in a 12-point font. Prose manuscripts should be double-spaced. Poetry may be single- or double-spaced. All pages must be consecutively numbered.

Work samples may be submitted as PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, MP3, WAV, MP4, or MOV files.                                          

PROOF OF RESIDENCY

The Loft requires finalists to provide proof of Minnesota residency. This may be a scan or digital photo of a valid Minnesota driver’s license, ID, or utilities bill with name and address and date. Name, address, and date should be clearly legible.

PROOF OF PUBLICATION

Applicants must submit proof of each publication necessary to meet eligibility. For books, we will need a photocopy or scanned image of the title and copyright pages. For journals, we will need photocopies or scanned documents of either the cover or title page of the journal as well as the table of contents page and the pages on which your work appears. For self-published books, please provide a brief letter from the publisher confirming an editorial process.

• Applicants should include a brief biographical statement—you will see a field for this in Submittable. Do not attach the biographical statement to your manuscript. The biographical statement is used for publicity purposes only when the winners are announced. Biographical statements are not seen by the judges.

DEADLINE: 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Due to the anticipated volume of requests for help, please plan ahead and ask questions before the deadline week to ensure a reply. Please note that the Loft office hours will not be extended the evening of the deadline. Entrants will be notified of their status by the end of April, 2025. Winners will begin receiving payments in May, 2025.