The Ellen Meloy Award is an annual prize to support writers and writing about the desert. Writers are offered $3,000. Writers are also “sent out to the desert to write.”

According to their website:

“The Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers sends the willing and talented out to the desert to write. The annual award of $3,000 provides recognition and a small base of financial support for exceptional writers of the desert who wish to spend creative time in a desert environment and carry on in the spirit of Ellen Meloy.”

Applications for the this year’s prize are due on January 15th.

They do not accept proposals for poetry or fiction. They want proposals of creative nonfiction, literary nonfiction, and essays.

They aim to support a writer in work on a specific writing project. The project should be in the spirit of Ellen Meloy’s writing.

Last year’s winner was Kendra Atleework, to support work on her book-length memoir, Sweetwater: Life and Change in the Rain Shadow of the Sierra Nevada.

To learn more, and to apply, be sure to read the application guidelines.

For more contests and grant opportunities here are 17 Free Writing Contests With Cash Prizes (Up to $25,000)