Application Guidelines – Literary Arts

OVERVIEW:

The Canadian Women Artists’ Award is a $5,000 grant designed to provide financial support to Canadian, women artists ages 25-40 in New York State. The award can be used in any manner the recipient deems necessary to further their artistic goals. It is supported by funding granted to NYFA by the Canadian Women’s Club (CWC) of New York as a way to continue its philanthropic work when it disbanded.

In 2022, three $5,000 awards will be distributed, one in each category.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The Canadian Women Artists’ Award is open to women artists who are:

1. Canadian citizens, and able to provide proof of citizenship with legal documentation upon receipt of the award.

2. Between the ages of 25 and 40 by Tuesday, September 13, 2022 (extended from Tuesday, August 30).

3. Current residents of New York State.

4. Applying in only one of the eligible discipline categories.

5. The originators of the work, i.e. not awarded to interpretative artists.

6. Not previous recipients of the Canadian Women Artists’ Award.

7. Not a NYFA employee, member of the NYFA Board of Trustees or Artists’ Advisory Committee, and/or an immediate family member of any of the above.

Students in bachelor’s or master’s degree programs are eligible to apply.

ELIGIBLE DISCIPLINE – LITERARY ARTS

• Poetry
• Nonfiction
• Fiction
• Playwriting/Screenwriting

See the definitions for each of the disciplines here.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

When submitting an application to the LITERARY ARTS category, you will need to complete:

Required:

  • Artist Statement – up to 100 words
    • A short concise statement giving an overview of your artistic practice. This statement should give a brief introduction to ideas, themes and methods in your practice. This is not an Artist’s Bio.
  • Work Statement – up to 100 words 
    • A statement explaining your artistic vision as directly related to your submitted work samples. This is not an artist statement, but should instead reflect only the ideas and inspiration relevant ONLY to the work submitted. 
  • Excerpt Explanation – up to 400 words 
    • A supplemental statement further explaining the context, concept, and execution of your work sample. 
    • This statement should explain how the excerpted work sample relates to the entire original piece. Within the Excerpt Explanation you can itemize each submitted work sample and talk about them individually. 
  • Work Samples
    • Up to 15 pages of manuscript. Must be 12 point font and double spaced or in script format.
  • Resume
    • A 1 page PDF resume detailing your artistic career as it relates to the discipline in which you have applied. Resumes may be submitted in either CV (bulleted) or bio (paragraph) format.

Optional written statements:

  • Technical Statement – up to 200 words 
    • A supplemental statement describing the key technical aspects of the work. Use this statement to highlight your role in creating/executing the work.
    • Be sure to note whether your work samples represent documentation of a performance, installation, experience, etc. You can also describe the circumstances in which the viewer/audience should experience the work. Please include instructions on how to navigate your work if it’s interactive.

WORK SAMPLES

Please upload a manuscript, up to 15 pages, of your Literary work using the following specifications:

  • File name: label your manuscript with the title of the work, not your name.
  • Length: Up to 15 pages
  • Language: English
  • File format: .pdf

After your work sample has been uploaded, you will be able to provide a description (metadata) including title, date the work was completed, and additional information.

Work samples should be a representation of work created within the last five years.

Manuscripts must be in English, but can be translated into English by someone other than the artist.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 5:00 PM EDT

All applications must be submitted online at https://apply.nyfa.org/submit

Applications submitted after the deadline will not be accepted and no exceptions will be made. We highly recommend that you complete your applications in advance of the deadline to allow time for work samples to upload and to avoid potential technical problems.

You will receive an automatic response from Submittable once your application has been successfully received.

Once submitted, applicants will no longer be able to make changes to their application. Be sure to review everything carefully prior to submitting. Please contact [email protected] with any further questions.

DOWNLOAD THE APPLICATION GUIDELINES AS A PDF