If you are an African writer, apply now for the 2020 Miles Morland Foundation (MMF) Writing Scholarship for a chance to be granted funding that will aid your writing pursuit to its maximum potential.
With an understanding of how almost impossible it is for writers to earn a living and write, the Miles Morland scholarship scheme, an annual writing award, will provide you a relief fund to obtain essentials that would otherwise interfere with your writing process and as such complement a struggle-free writing journey.
Submit a snippet of your pre-existing published piece of work and if you’re selected, you will get to put your masterpiece(because if you are selected, it’s definitely a masterpiece) out there faster, your voice will reach a wider audience and you will receive up to €18,000 monthly for a fixed duration.
Application Deadline: September 18, 2020
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Benefits
Selected writers:
- Writing fiction will receive a grant of up to £18,000 in cash payment monthly for 12 months
- Writing non-fiction, who need extra research time, could receive an additional grant, paid monthly for up to eighteen months(depending on the Foundation’s evaluation)
Eligibility
The 2020 Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship is open to
- Applicants who write in the English language
- Applicants born in Africa
- Applicants not born in Africa, but whose parents were both born in Africa
Requirement/Specification/Terms and Conditions
- To apply for the Scholarship, candidates are required to submit an excerpt from a piece of work of between 2,000 – 5,000 words, written and published in English that has been offered for sale.
- The Scholarship does not cater to academic or scientific research or works of special areas such as religious or political writings. Such submissions will not be considered.
- At the end of each month for the duration covered by the scholarship, selected candidates must submit by email, to the Foundation 10,000 new words written over the course of the month.
- Selected writers will also be required to donate to the MMF 20% of whatever royalty is earned from the book they write during the duration of their Scholarship.
This includes revenues as a result of film rights, serializations, or other secondary revenues arising from the book written during the Scholarship period. These funds will go into supporting other writers.
- The only legally binding imposition on selected writers is that they must write during the time span of their scholarship.
If the first draft of the book is ready before the scholarship year ends, payments will continue while the writer edits and finalizes their work.
- The scholarship is not residential. Scholars are to sort their own living arrangements.
Free Worksheet and Checklist
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Application Instructions
To apply, applicants are required to:
- Attach the 5 documents to their application. They are essential to your application review.
- An excerpt of between 2,000 to 5,000 words -(as a Word doc) of work that has been published and put up for sale. Include evidence of publication.
- A descriptive narrative of between 400 – 1,000 words about the new book you intend to write.
- A scanned official document proving that you, or both of your parents, were born in Africa.
- A brief biography of between 200 – 300 words.
- How you heard about the Morland Writing Scholarships.
Click here to apply
About Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship
The Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship is an initiative of the Miles Morland Foundation.
The scheme was created in a bid to help relieve writers of tasks necessary to earn a living. The scholarship is granted to allow each scholar the time to produce the first draft of a completed book.
It’s an annual program committed to supporting literary innovations in Africa which enable Africans to get their voices heard. It prioritizes African writing and African literature.
The 2020 Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship is the seventh edition of its kind.
Key Dates and Order of Program
Applications with all relevant attachments should be submitted by 18th September 2020.
Late applications will not be considered.
Shortlisted writers would be notified by the end of October 2020.
Scholars are to determine their starting period between January and June in the year after the award. Payments and the monthly submission requirement will start at the same time.
All entries for the scholarships will be allocated to a team of readers, all of whom have knowledge of African literature.
The writings would then be reviewed and graded by the readers. The list of selections procured from this phase would then be assessed by the MMF team, and a shortlist of around twenty entries would be chosen. Finally, the judges will decide the winners from the shortlist.
Submissions will be judged purely on literary merit.
The judging panel consists of:
- Muthoni Garland: Published author of over a dozen books for children, two novellas for adults and several stories published in literary journals in Africa, Europe, and the USA. Muthoni is Chair of the judging panel.
- Bibi Bakare-Yusuf: co-founder and publishing director at Cassava Republic Press.
- Chuma Nwokolo: A writer, lawyer, convener of the Bribecode good governance campaign, and author of The Extinction of Menai.
Past Winners of the Miles Morland Foundation Writing program
2018 Scholarship Winners
- Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
- Sibabalwe Oscar Masinyana
- Edwige Renee Dro
- Kola Tubosun
2017 Scholarship Winners
- Alemseged Tesfai (2017)
- F.T.Kola
- Eloghosa Osunde (2017)
- Bryony Rheam (2017)
- Elnathan John (2017)
2016 Scholarship Winners
- Nneoma Ike-Njoku
- Lidudumalingani Mqombothi
- Ayesha Harruna Attah (2016)
- Abdul Adan (2016)
2015 Scholarship Winners
- Noo Saro-Wiwa
- Bolaji Odofin
- Fatin Abbas
- Karen Jennings
- Akwaeke Emezi
2014 Scholarship Winners
- Ahmed Khalifa
- Ndinda Kioko
- Simone Haysom
- Yewande Omotoso
2013 Scholarship Winners
- Percy Zvomuya
- Doreen Baingana
- Tony Mochama
Babajide is a content writer and site admin at Camberene. He majored in zoology and is also a tech enthusiast proficient in the use of python, R and other data analytics tools.
Babajide is looking into using machine learning and artificial intelligence in the near future.