LITERATURE
Discipline-Specific Guidelines
2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship
The Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Literature supports Minnesota or New York City-based writers, early in their careers, creating bold, innovative and risk-taking new work that challenges conventional artistic forms. This program supports writers working in fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. Please note that playwrights and spoken word artists should apply in the discipline of Theater/Performance Art/Spoken Word.
Please take the Eligibility Questionnaire to assess whether you meet the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship eligibility criteria before reading through these further, discipline-specific requirements. You must meet all of the general eligibility requirements as well as those found in the Discipline-Specific Guidelines below, whether you are applying as an individual artist or as a collaborative.
Defining “Early Career”
Eligible applicants must have a sufficient body of completed work that a panel can use to assess your artistic development over time, dedication to the field and ongoing motivation to create new original work.
Early career artists:
Writers who have been generating new work for more than 10 years (excluding any time spent in a degree-granting program) are generally not eligible, even if they feel under-recognized. Writers beyond 10 years in the field and who have not had 3 published books who wish to discuss eligibility—based on circumstances (whether personal or geographic) or on specific creative practice considerations (i.e., the scale of work and/or extended creative cycles necessary to complete a single work)—should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020 to discuss eligibility in advance of submitting an application.
Panels rely on work samples and a resume/CV to assess the review criterion of artistic merit, impact and readiness. Your application materials must demonstrate development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
This is not an opportunity for beginning writers whose work has yet to be published, or without a sufficient body of completed work that a panel can use to assess your artistic development over time.
Age is not a factor in determining eligibility.
Writers who are mid-career or established are not eligible.
Artists will be considered beyond early career and ineligible if they have:
Receipt of any one of these grants and awards does not make an artist ineligible—it is the receipt of multiple grants and awards for multiple projects that, taken as a whole, move an artist to mid-career or beyond.
Recognizing that different funders may define “mid-career” in different ways, artists who have received mid-career awards but consider themselves still in an early career stage should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020, to discuss eligibility in advance of submitting an application.
Writers with substantial recognition and lengthy careers as journalists, scholars, translators of the work of others will generally be considered ineligible. Writers who want to discuss eligibility should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020, in advance of submitting an application.
Mid-career or established artists from fields other than literature will not be considered early career based on the decision to shift artistic direction and begin writing. For example, a playwright with a substantial career in theater who is now moving into writing poetry will not be considered early career for the purposes of this Fellowship.
Collaborative Eligibility
Collaboratives may submit a single application requesting support for 2–5 members who will share the Fellowship funds equally. In order to submit an eligible application, the collaborative must have a majority of members that meet all of the Fellowship eligibility requirements for artists applying individually and have a demonstrated history of creating new work collectively. Only eligible collaborative artists may be included in the application.
Please take the Eligibility Questionnaire to assess whether your group meets the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship eligibility criteria for collaboratives.
Prose (fiction, creative non-fiction and prose poetry)
In the application, you must provide
Work sample page maximum:
For example, you may submit 7 pages of a published short story or essay; 13 pages of a published short story, novel or memoir; and 10 pages of a work-in-progress that you are developing over the next couple of years.
Use your most recent and strongest work. Panels prefer work created within the last 3 years. Older samples may be submitted with an explanation in the “work sample context” field. Work created and presented while in a degree-granting program is not eligible.
Submit your works in the order in which you would like them to be viewed, starting with your strongest sample. Panelists want to see a range of work demonstrating development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
The applicant(s) must be the author of all submitted samples. If applying as an ensemble/collective/collaborative, all of the work samples must be the creative work authored by the members of the group who are applying.
Do not send samples of photocopied or scanned pages from a book or magazine—this creates formatting inconsistencies that are a challenge for panelists. The visual quality is also much lower than a PDF made from a text document.
Poetry
In the application, you must provide:
Work sample page maximum:
For example, an artist might submit 5 pages of poems from a published collection, 5 pages of poems individually published in poetry journals, and 5 pages of poems-in-progress or poems that have not been published. It is to your benefit to submit enough work to reach the 15-page limit.
Submit your works in the order in which you would like them to be viewed, starting with your strongest sample. Panelists want to see a range of work demonstrating development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
Do not send samples of copied or scanned pages from a book or magazine—this creates formatting inconsistencies that are a challenge for panelists. The visual quality is also much lower than a pdf made from a text document.
Combination of Prose and Poetry
For writers who work in prose and poetry forms, in the application you must provide:
Work sample page maximum:
10 pages total for 1 publicly presented prose work
5 pages total for publicly presented poetry works
5 pages total for work-in-progress poems or 10 pages total from 1 prose work-in-progress
Submit your works in the order in which you would like them to be viewed, starting with your strongest sample. Panelists want to see a range of work demonstrating development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
Do not send samples of copied or scanned pages from a book or magazine—this creates formatting inconsistencies that are a challenge for panelists. The visual quality is also much lower than a pdf made from a text document.
If applying as a collaborative, all of the work samples must be the creative work authored by the members of the group who are applying.
Jerome staff will assess whether your work samples are eligible for the panel to view.
Ineligible work samples include:
For each work sample in the application, you will provide the following required information:
Prose only:
Poetry only:
Combined Prose and Poetry:
Work Sample Description for Prose and Poetry:
Applicants who cannot provide the minimum amount of requested work samples leave the panel without enough information to gauge whether the applicant is truly competitive. Applicants who cannot meet the minimum requirement will be eliminated from consideration.
Panels rely on the resume/CV to evaluate how your artistic background demonstrates development over time, dedication to the field, ongoing motivation in the creation of new, original work in your artistic field over a multi-year period and your readiness for a two-year fellowship.
To meet eligibility requirements, you must have at least 1 work on your resume/CV that has been supported by a publisher or funder (for a project grant from either a foundation or a federal, state or local arts agency). Work that has been self-published or work created and published while in a degree-granting program is not eligible for this requirement.
Staff will assess your resume/CV to make sure you are eligible for the panel to review. Any applicant whose resume does not clearly establish eligibility will be eliminated for further consideration at the prescreening stage.
Resume/CVs should be current and complete. Bios are not acceptable. The Jerome staff and panel will not do research to determine your publication dates, length, dates in degree programs, etc.
The resume is your chance to present and confirm your status as an early career writer with a history of ultimate creative control over projects, artistic development over time, dedication to the field, and ongoing motivation in the creation of new, original work. For that reason, applicants need to be specific about clearly listing your writing work separate from other work and opportunities. A sample individual writer resume is available for your reference.
Individual Artist Resumes/CVs should include the following:
Example: Uproot! published by Press A in 2018. This is my first published poetry collection. This is a bi-lingual series of 45 poems, songs, and myths that weaves the known and imagined narrative of my family history.
Eye Spy chapbook published by Press A in 2016. This is a prose-poetry hybrid meditation on first impressions with illustrations by August Lopez.
Rain Down, short story (8500 words, fiction), published in Magazine A in 2019. This is a dialogue between sisters on the eve of their mother’s death.
Blood Turnip, short story (7500 words, fiction), published in Literary Journal A in 2018. This is a playful story incorporating food metaphors in a tale of a love affair gone wrong.
Example: Peacocks (working title), novella (approximately 90 pages, fiction). A comedy involving a semi-pro basketball team whose new owner brings along a Silicon Valley mindset.
Example: Rapid Fire, 2014 performance & installation in collaboration with Monira Esid’s Declaration at Venue A (City). I wrote and performed the text which was also incorporated into the installation.
No Boundaries, 2016, (2000 words, creative non-fiction) essay for online blog commissioned by Institution A (City) in response to Make Sense Exhibition.
Example: [name of fellowship or award], [year], [amount of award or fellowship stipend], [length of fellowship], [name of project, if relevant]
Nominee for [name of award],[year], [name of work]
Example: [name of grant], [year], [amount of grant], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of residency], [year], [length of residency], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of series], 2015, Venue A (City). I read 2 poems in an evening inviting poets to share 7 minutes of work.
[name of series], 2015, Venue A (City). I read 3 poems during this event featuring readings with live music.
Example: University A, MFA in Creative Writing, 2012-2015
College B, B.A. in Creative Writing, NY, 2007-2011
Example: Taught [name of class], Venue A (city), [year], [length of class, e.g. “1-week intensive” or “12 weeks”]
Collaborative Resumes/CVs:
Artists applying as a collaborative should submit a resume of the collaborative work in addition to individual resumes of the artists applying. The collaborative information is the same format as that requested from individual artist applicants, just specific to the collaborative creators applying.
A sample collaborative resume is available for your reference.
The collaborative resume should include:
Example: Grain of Salt (hybrid fiction, 287 pages), published by Press A in 2018. Co-written by Free Fall Collaborative members Roni Stark and Rafael Greene. Stark also illustrated the book. This work was collaboratively created by Stark and Greene writing separate sections of a plot line they developed together, then editing and integrating the work for the final collaborative manuscript. This work follows three generations of a family wrestling with notions of home and displacement.
Blood Turnip, short story (7500 words, fiction), published in Literary Journal A in 2018. Co-written by Stark and Greene. This is a playful story incorporating food metaphors in a tale of a love affair gone wrong.
Rain Down, short story (8500 words, fiction), published in Magazine A in 2019. This work was co-written by Stark and Greene by alternating lines is a dialogue between sisters on the eve of their mother’s death.
Example: Peacocks (working title), novella (approximately 90 pages, fiction). Co-written by Stark and Greene. A comedy involving a semi-pro basketball team whose new owner brings along a Silicon Valley mindset.
Example: [name of fellowship or award], [year], [amount of award or fellowship stipend], [length of fellowship], [name of project, if relevant]
Nominee for [name of award],[year], [name of work]
Example: [name of grant], [year], [amount of grant], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of residency], [year], [length of residency], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of series], 2015, Venue A (City). Stark and Greene read 4 poems as part of an evening inviting poets to share 7 minutes of work.
[name of series], 2015, Venue A (City). Stark read 3 poems during the event while Greene played a live soundscore.
Example: Rapid Fire, 2014 performance & installation in collaboration with Monira Esid’s Declaration at Venue A (City). Free Fall Collaborative wrote and performed the text which was also incorporated into the installation.
Soundscapes, 2015, Venue A (City). Free Fall Collaborative read new unpublished work with music soundscore created by Stark.
Example: [CollaborativeName] taught [name of class], Venue A (city), [year], [length of class, e.g. “1-week intensive” or “12 weeks”]
Note: if the collaborative includes members that are not Jerome-eligible or not included in the application, but those artists were involved in the development of the published works included on the collaborative resume, please note this on the collaborative resume.
Example: Push Button, novella (100 pages, hybrid fiction), published by Press A in 2016. Co-written by Free Fall Collaborative members Roni Stark, Rafael Greene and illustrated by Lane Lee. Lane Lee is not Jerome-eligible but is a regular member of Free Fall Collaborative. The piece was developed from a collaboratively created plot line with text for alternating characters by Stark and Greene. The book is written entirely as dialogue between two androids reflecting on the demise of humanity.
