Currently 5 active writing and translation grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
Subscribe: RSS feed · Calendar (.ics)
The AI Philosophy Competition, organised by philosophers Zachary Goodsell and Elliott Thornley and funded by Forethought Research, aims to gauge the philosophical capabilities of AI in a way transparent to the philosophical community. Entrants submit up to three original essays on any philosophical topic; essays must be primarily AI-generated, with some human guidance allowed, and each entry must include a methodology report explaining how the essay was produced. Essays are capped at 6,000 words each and may not be previously published or under review elsewhere; entrants consent to online publication and may choose anonymity. Judging is blind to methodology and authorship and evaluates the quality and originality of the philosophical content (style is not graded); the judging committee includes David Chalmers, John Hawthorne, Herman Cappelen, Cian Dorr and other academic philosophers. PRIZES: USD 3,000 / 2,000 / 1,000 for the top three essays, plus a USD 5,000 creative methodology pool. Finalists announced early December 2026, results end of January 2027. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
The Open Notebook's paid fellowship for early-career science journalists is open for its 2027 round. Fellows spend twelve months working part-time and remotely with a personal mentor, reporting and writing articles about the craft of science journalism that are published at The Open Notebook, one of the field's central craft resources. Eligibility: early-career science journalists with fewer than three years of regular professional science-writing experience; applicants from anywhere in the world are welcome, and application materials are in English. TO APPLY: submit the application form (linked from the program page) by 31 October 2026, 11:59 PM US Central time; reference letters are due 7 November 2026. The fellowship year starts 9 February 2027.
The Nieman Foundation brings around two dozen journalists to Harvard each year for two semesters of study, reflection and community, one of the oldest and best-known midcareer journalism fellowships in the world. Fellows design their own course of study, audit classes across Harvard's schools and take part in Nieman's own seminars and master classes; many use the year to deepen a beat such as technology, AI accountability, science or press freedom. WHAT YOU GET: a USD 87,500 stipend paid over the nine-month academic year (2026-27 figure), plus allowances toward housing, childcare and health insurance. WHO IS ELIGIBLE: working journalists, staff or freelance, in any medium, with at least five years of full-time media experience; open to applicants from any country. Freelancers may use a recent supervising editor for one of the three required recommendation letters. Special fellowships within the program include the Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellowship in Journalism Innovation. TO APPLY: applications for the class of 2028 open in the first week of October 2026 and require two essays (personal statement and study proposal), work samples and three recommendation letters. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026 for international applicants; 31 January 2027 for US citizens.
Contemporary art magazine commissioning paid art writing and criticism, with pitches accepted on an ongoing basis (online reviews/pitches continuous; themed print issues have set deadlines, e.g. the Spring issue around 15 September 2026). A direct paid outlet for criticism on digital, new-media and AI art. ELIGIBILITY: writers at all experience levels are invited; not restricted to Canada. Mostly pitch-based, with short online reviews accepted unsolicited.
Rest of World is in the third year of its Labor x Tech program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, commissioning reported stories on the changing nature of work at a moment of upheaval: AI tools and robotics reshaping professions at every rung of society, from self-driving cars replacing drivers to humanoid robots working alongside nurses; lay-offs across the tech industry; and the gig work model continuing to reshape traditional employment. The programme's premise is that this moment needs documenting now, in stories that help prepare society for what comes next. WHAT THEY COMMISSION: reported stories of 800 to 1,000 words from around the world on this beat, at a fee of USD 1,000 per story. WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, based on previous years: how new technology is transforming existing industries in unique ways and creating unexpected new pockets of employment; how technology is leading to significant job gain, job loss, and government responses to those trends; whether large demographic shifts are following the adoption of new technology or the arrival of new industries; how workplace technology is changing workplace dynamics; how new industries and tools are changing workers' incomes; and the expansion of the gig work model alongside the threats of automation. EXAMPLES of the kind of story they hope to commission, all previously published by Rest of World: workers in Chinese data factories teaching humanoid robots boring tasks; entry-level tech workers describing the AI-fuelled jobpocalypse; Microsoft and Google claiming their data centres create thousands of jobs while their permit filings say otherwise; AI helping judges close cases quickly and lawyers open them quickly; tech workers fuelling a mini baby boom in Taiwan's Silicon Valley; Dubai's robotaxi ambitions coming for human drivers; and the job brokers who run the lives of the migrant workers staffing Taiwan's chip plants. ELIGIBILITY NOTE: the programme is unable to commission reporting in India or from writers based in India for this series. HOW TO PITCH: send 2 to 3 paragraphs laying out the nutgraf of the proposal and explaining how the pitch fits the editorial mission of the programme. Indicate what sources will be used, whether any pre-reporting has been completed, what reporting has already been done on the topic at other outlets, and what the story contributes to the discourse. Pitches go to laborxtech@restofworld.org. Pitching is open on a rolling basis; no closing date is stated.