Writing Funding Opps: Feb-March deadlines inside

Dozens of new funded opportunities.

Writing Grants, Bursaries & Fellowships

Most writers underestimate how much funding is actually available to them. Grants for manuscripts in progress, bursaries for writing courses you can’t afford, fellowships that cover living expenses while you write — these opportunities exist, and more of you are eligible than you’d think.

Organizations are actively looking to fund writers at all career stages, including those who are underrepresented, early-career, or simply stretching their budgets too thin.

This edition shares with you carefully vetted opportunities across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and worldwide, all with deadlines concentrated between now and March 2026.

Whether you’re completing a manuscript, launching into a new genre, or finally taking that course you’ve been eyeing, there’s likely funding here for you. You just need to know where to look — and that’s where the FWN is here to help.

The full collection with links, deadlines, and application details is available below for paid subscribers.

Don’t want updates on grants, bursaries & fellowships? You can update your preferences using this link.

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Writing Grants, Bursaries & Fellowships

New writing grants, bursaries & fellowships in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom & worldwide, with submission dates from January to March 2026.

UNITED STATES & CANADA

Nieman Fellowships for U.S. Journalists
Nine-month fellowships at Harvard University for journalists with at least three years of professional experience. Fellows receive a stipend to pursue professional development, conduct research, and audit Harvard courses while part of a global community of journalists. The program includes access to Harvard’s extensive resources, networking opportunities, and career advancement support. Applications require essays, professional profile, work samples, and three letters of recommendation.
Deadline: January 31st, 2026.

Chautauqua Janus Prize
The Chautauqua Janus Prize will be awarded for the ninth time in 2026, celebrating an emerging writer’s single work of short fiction or nonfiction that demonstrates daring formal and aesthetic innovations. Submissions may be up to 15,000 words in length but no more than 100 pages. Emerging writers are defined as writers who have yet to publish their first book (exceeding 15,000 words and/or 100 pages) in any prose genre. The winner receives $5,000 plus a travel expense, the winner receives a week-long writing residency at Chautauqua Institution. The winner will give a public lecture and reading during a celebratory event on the grounds.
Deadline: January 31st, 2026.

Black Lawrence Press - The Big Moose Prize
Each year Black Lawrence Press awards The Big Moose Prize for an unpublished novel. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The contest is open to traditional novels as well as novels-in-stories, novels-in-poems, and other hybrid forms that contain within them the spirit of a novel. The winner receives book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book.
Deadline: January 31st. 2026.

Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature
This annual award from Schaffner Press honors Nicholas Schaffner, who devoted his life to music and literature about music. The award celebrates writers whose lives and writing have been profoundly influenced by music. Open to fiction, poetry, or nonfiction (memoir, autobiography, or essay collection) in English that deals in some way with the subject of music (of any genre and period) and its influence. Complete book-length manuscripts are welcome: 75K-100K words for fiction and nonfiction, 60+ pages for poetry collections. The first-place winner receives a contract with Schaffner Press and a $1,000 advance for publication the following year.
Deadline: January 31st, 2026.