Please note that every person who attends our conference is essentially a ‘financial aid recipient’ as we keep costs down by soliciting grants, donations, etc., in order to provide each attendee a beach experience at a total charge that is well under what one might expect to pay for the level of talent and spaces in this resort town (see what other conferences charge for essentially what is often dorm living). The conference offerings (staff, labor, faculty, visitors, room and board) come to well over $3800 per attendee (those who choose our housing option) and well over $2200 for those who choose the full conference registration without housing.
NOTE: You need only apply here if you are hoping for a financial aid.
Otherwise, please Register Here
| FELLOWSHIPS OPEN to ALL Writers with published books! Apply below for FELLOWSHIP in Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction |
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| DEADLINE PASSED January 20th, 2023! Applications open up again for 2024 in November! ABOUT Fellowships & QUALIFICATION Details: our fellowship program provides an opportunity for emerging writers and poets (with one full-length book published, but no more than three total in the genre you are applying for, must be residents of the US) to be housed and attend our conference at no cost (a value of well over $4000). Fellows will spend a week with an award-winning faculty workshop leader, have their work critiqued, facilitate our Writers in the Classroom visit to local schools, and will also read in our annual Fellows reading. Housing is included, but travel and dining is not. Fellowship APPLICATION LINKS: $18 payment to PayPal 2023 LWC Fellowship Application form Please pay the $18 application fee to Paypal first, then follow the link to our application form in order to submit 12-15 pages of your creative work (saved as Your Initials Title Genre Fellowship in pdf or doc or doc(x). Please do not include any personal details in the actual creative submission! You will also be prompted to include a short CV/publication history to confirm your eligibility and a confirmation number for your $18 payment to PayPal (simply pay to the email: longleafwritersconference@gmail.com). If you cannot afford the application fee, please let us know your situation in the application link. See below for details on expectations and opportunities and how we judge. Past fellows include Jenny Molberg, Matt W. Miller, Melanie Farmer, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Blake Sanz, Anne Elliot, Barrett Warner, Gabriel Houck, David James Poissant, Kara van de Graaf, Elliot Garcia, Brandon Courtney, Sandra Gail Lambert, Tanya Grae, and many more! Our judges change every year (and our directors have no input) so even if you have applied before feel free to keep trying! |
| URG SCHOLARSHIPS OPEN to all emerging writers from Under-Represented Groups*! Apply below for URG SCHOLARSHIP (Open Genres) |
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| DEADLINE PASSED January 20th, 2023! Applications open up again for 2024 in November! ABOUT URG Scholarships & QUALIFICATION details: our scholarship program provides an opportunity for emerging poets and writers from URG backgrounds (Under-represented Groups) to be housed and attend our conference at no cost (a value of well over $4000). Applicants must be residents of the US and not yet have a full-length book published or self-published in the genre you are applying, but you should have experience and/or current efforts in publishing world. Scholars will spend a week with an award-winning faculty workshop leader and fellows, have their work critiqued, engage with our ‘Writers in the Classroom’ visit to local schools, and also will read in our annual Scholars reading. Scholars have specific duties during the week and are expected to work with directors to keep up with the conference day-to-day setups, so many consider it an internship as well. Housing is included, but travel and dining is not. URG Scholar APPLICATION LINKS: $8 payment to PayPal Please follow this link to the 2023 LWC Scholarship App Please follow the links above to pay and submit 12-18 pages of your creative work (saved as Your Initials Title Genre URG Scholarship in pdf or doc or doc(x). Please do not include any personal details in the actual creative submission! You will also be prompted to include a short CV/publication and personal history to confirm your eligibility and a confirmation number for your $8 payment to PayPal (simply pay to the email: longleafwritersconference@gmail.com). If you cannot afford the application fee, please let us know your situation in the application link. See below for details on expectations and opportunities and how we judge. Past scholars include Tochukwu Okafor, Linda N. Masi, Hua Xi, Sarah Matsui, Melanie Farmer, Noel Quinones, more. Our judges change every year (and our directors have no input) so even if you have applied before feel free to keep trying! *In general, “underrepresented groups” (URG) in the US typically includes Black, Indigenous, other People of Color, and any other “non-white” racial/ethnic groups that are minority populations in the United States. While there is no single, unanimous definition of underrepresented groups in the arts or in creative writing, Longleaf also includes trans and disabled writers in this category. If your identifying group is not listed here and you would like to be considered for this scholarship, please communicate your situation explicitly in the application form. |
| VETERAN SCHOLARSHIPS OPEN to all Veteran Writers! Apply below for Celia Baker Veteran SCHOLARSHIP (Open Genres) |
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| DEADLINE PASSED January 20th, 2023! Applications open up again for 2024 in November! ABOUT Veteran Scholarship & QUALIFICATION Details: our Veteran Scholarship program provides an opportunity for emerging North American veteran (combat and peacetime) writers and poets to be housed and attend our conference at no cost (a value of well over $4000). Applicants must not yet have a full-length book published or be self-published in the genre you are applying. Baker Scholars will spend a week with an award-winning faculty workshop leader and fellows, have their work critiqued, engage in our ‘Writers in the Classroom’ visit to local schools, and will also read in our annual Scholars reading. Scholars have specific duties during the week and are expected to work with directors to keep up with the conference day-to-day setups, so many consider it an internship as well. Housing is included, but travel and dining is not. Baker Scholar APPLICATION LINKS: $8 payment to PayPal Baker Veteran Scholar Application form Please follow the links above to pay and submit 12-18 pages of your creative work, saved as Your Initials Title Genre Baker Scholarship in pdf or doc(x) to our Baker Veteran Scholar Application form. Also include a short CV/bio about your publishing efforts or background and service and how you fulfill our eligibility requirements, along with a confirmation number for your $8 payment to PayPal (simply pay to the email: longleafwritersconference@gmail.com). If you cannot afford the application fee, please let us know your situation in the application link. See below for details on expectations and opportunities and how we judge. Past scholars include Amber Adams, Aaron Graham, Juanita Kirton, Elaine Little, Benjamin Hertwig (all of whom have gone on to publish books). Our judges change every year (and our directors have no input) so even if you have applied before feel free to keep trying! |
LOCAL Financial Aid Opportunities:
| OPEN to all Local Writers (those writers living permanently between Pensacola and Panama City and north to Freeport)! Apply here for St. Joe’s Community Foundation FELLOWSHIP or SCHOLARSHIP (Open Genres) |
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| DEADLINE PASSED January 20th, 2023! Applications open up again for 2024 in November! ABOUT local Financial Aid & QUALIFICATION Details: our Local Scholarship program provides an opportunity for emerging local writers and poets (must be US residents and live and work within 100 miles of Seaside, Florida) to attend our conference at no cost (a value of well over $2900). Housing is not included. SCHOLARS must not yet have a full-length book published or self-published in the genre you are applying. FELLOWS must have one book published but no more than three. Each will spend a week with an award-winning faculty workshop leader and fellows, have their work critiqued, engage in our ‘Writers in the Classroom’ visit to local schools, and will also read in our annual Scholar or Fellow reading. Scholars have specific duties during the week and are expected to work with directors to keep up with the conference day-to-day setups, so many consider it an internship as well. LOCAL writer financial aid APPLICATION LINKs: $8 (scholar) or $18 (fellow) payment to PayPal LOCAL Fellow/Scholar Application Form Please follow the links above to pay and submit 12-18 pages of your creative work, saved as Your Initials Title Genre LOCAL Scholarship OR Fellowship in pdf or doc(x). You will also be prompted to include a short CV/bio about your publishing efforts or background and how you fulfill our resident eligibility requirements along with a confirmation number for your payment to PayPal (simply pay to the email: longleafwritersconference@gmail.com). If you cannot afford the application fee, please let us know your situation in the application link. See below for details on expectations and opportunities and how we judge. Our judges change every year (and our directors have no input) so even if you have applied before feel free to keep trying! |
Missed an opportunity to apply for our scholarships or fellowships? Don’t forget to apply for the AWP Kurt Brown Award which ends in late March every year!
SELECTION DETAILS: The Longleaf Writers Conference was founded on the principle of inclusion and on the principle of philanthropy; we began our scholar and fellow program just after our first trial-run of the conference, and we have been able to use enrollment and registration funds, along with money from generous donors, to build and grow these programs for our non-profit every year. See below for details about our offerings.
We follow the CLMP Code of Ethics in our selection process
CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we at the LWC agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage. The LWC does not promise that there will be even distrubution of awards across genres. We take only the best writing scores and determine the winners. Application fees will not be returned if there is no financial award in a represented genre, and once submitted application fees will not be refunded in case of errors with the submission, so read our guidelines carefully.
Scholarship and Fellowship Process & Guidelines
Judging for our financial aid awards: submissions are blind read (no identifying material included with submissions) and each submission is scored by 2-3 guest judges selected from previous LWC visitors, faculty, fellows, scholars, editors. Each applicant submission gets at least two individual readers. Conference directors then compile scores and select a winner, a runner-up, and a number of finalists from that group. Directors do not score or judge; they are only there to ensure that the finalists and winners are eligible for the financial aid awards. Judges change on a yearly basis, so keep trying.
Conflicts of Interest: Similar to most editorial policies, current students, faculty, staff, and administrators currently affiliated with Longleaf Writers Conference are ineligible for consideration or publication. Additionally, intimate friends, relatives, colleagues, and former or current students of a judge cannot be scored by that judge and will be passed along to another judge. Our judges change yearly so even if you do not succeed the first time, we have had financial aid offered to artists who have submitted over multiple years. If you have received financial aid from LWC, please wait at least three years before applying again.
FELLOWSHIP EXPECTATIONS:
As a Fellow, you will be expected to help our faculty with any necessary items during a five-day workshop (1 ½ hours each session) in your genre. You will also give a reading for our Annual Fellows Reading. This is a standard, casual 15 minute reading with other fellows. Fellows are the heart and soul of our conference and we hope they will be visible and will ‘give as much as they get’ in exchange for your free tuition and accommodations (worth more than $4000), so please be prepared to be involved, active, and generous. We expect fellows to attend all events.
Fellows receive free accommodation in Seaside and free registration for all conference offerings. Fellows will handle their own travel arrangements. Because we rely on the generosity of the local homeowners, we cannot provide specific details about the accommodations at this point, but housing in the Seaside area is typically much better than most other writing conferences you may be familiar with and almost always have unshared rooms and private baths. No dorms!
SCHOLARSHIP EXPECTATIONS:
As a scholar, you will be expected to help our faculty and fellows as they provide our 5-day workshop (1 ½ hours each session) in your genre. You will also give a reading for our Annual Scholars Reading. This is a standard, casual 5 minute reading with other scholars. Otherwise, Scholars should think of themselves as the glue that keeps this conference going; you will help the directors to organize, set up, tear down, whatever you can do to help in exchange for your free tuition and accommodations (worth more than $4000). We look to bring good citizen writers to the beach, so be ready to help us in any way and to also anticipate and ‘host’ as needs arise. We hire no administrators in order to keep costs down so that we can continue to build this vibrant program, so please be ready to be active and present and generous with your help and by paying attention to the details. Many of our scholars like to think of this as an ‘internship’ to also further develop their knowledge and skills in management and administration. We expect scholars to attend all events.
Scholars receive free accommodation in Seaside and free access to all our conference events. You will handle your own travel arrangements. Because we rely on the generosity of the local homeowners, we cannot provide specific details about the accommodations at this point, but housing in the Seaside area is typically much better than most other writing conferences you may be familiar with. No dorms!
