Hazel Rowley Prize for First-Time Biographers

What it is

The Hazel Rowley Prize rewards a first-time biographer with funding, agent feedback, membership in Biographers International Organization, and publicity. The prize is given annually at the BIO Conference in memory of Hazel Rowley, a distinguished biographer and BIO advocate. The prize recognizes exceptional proposals for biographies of individuals or groups of lives, with innovative approaches considered at the committee's discretion. Memoirs are not eligible.

Who it is for

First-time biographers anywhere in the world writing in English who are working on an uncommissioned, uncontracted, self-published biography and have never published a book-length biography, autobiography, history, or narrative nonfiction.

Open to artists anywhere.

The call says: “Source page: open to applicants from any country”

Where

United States

When

March 1, 2027

Programme dates not listed

What you get

$5,000 prize, a careful reading from an established agent, one year of BIO membership including conference registration, and publicity through the BIO website and newsletter.

What you need to apply

• Online entry form
• Proposal including synopsis, proposed table of contents, and notes on market and competing literature
• Writing sample
• Resume
• Proposal, writing sample, and resume combined in one PDF document, double-spaced, 12-point type, standard margins, with applicant name in file name, up to 20 words

How long it takes

About 6 hours

Medium application. Estimated from the 5 items this application asks for, not from the organisation.

Cost to apply

$25

Apply

http://www.biographersinternational.org/rowley-prize