Literary Arts Individual Project Funding Expert Panel comments

March 2, 2026 Submissions
Expert Panel General Comments

Comments made by the panel during its assessment of applications submitted to the March 2, 2026 deadline are outlined below. Please note that these comments provide a summary of the panel's assessment and do not necessarily relate to every individual application submitted to this deadline. The panel does not provide individual comments.

Project description

• Name your project with a specific title and not a generic label like “AFA Literary Arts Application.”
• The panel appreciated project descriptions that included specifics about the project plan and outcomes, including detailed timelines, activities, budget. The project description should clearly outline what the artist will do and how they are going to do it.
• It is essential for applicants to make a compelling argument for including literary activities like travel, conferences, workshops, and courses in their projects. Rationale should demonstrate how these activities are vital to the applicant’s project/career development.
• The project description should include a realistic timeline that supports the activities described in the project description as well as in the budget. The project should be able to be reasonably completed in the projected timeline. Timelines that were too long or too short for the proposed work were not assessed favourably.  
• When other artists are contracted for their work on the project, such as illustrators, please provide artistic and other rational for their selection.
• Applications that provided evidence of a willingness to learn about or an existing understanding of the publishing industry were assessed positively.
• The panel appreciated projects that included appropriate training and career development activities, including peer assessment, critical feedback, and relationships with professional publishers.
• The panel appreciated applications that showed evidence of consideration and artistic integrity. Read, review, and edit applications prior to submission. Give yourself ample time to complete and review your application.
• Please be in touch with the AFA grants development consultant and utilise grant writing resources on the AFA website prior to submission.
• The panel responded positively to applications with clear, focused, and well-articulated project descriptions. Projects that were vague, overly broad, or lacked a direct path to completion were less competitive.
• Applications should clearly define objectives, with specific, achievable goals, and a practical approach to completing the work.
• Applications that clearly outlined the process for how the project would be realized were more competitive than those that only summarized the narrative, demonstrating a strong understanding of execution as well as concept.
• The panel appreciated when projects had a specific title and not a generic label like “AFA Literary Arts Application.”
• The panel appreciated applications that demonstrated a natural progression in the applicant’s practice, including training, editing, peer feedback, and ongoing project development.
• Evidence of engagement with writing communities (such as publishing in magazines, being members with literary organizations, or sharing work publicly) strengthened applications.
• Applications were strengthened by demonstrating awareness of literary practice and industry processes, including editing, publishing, and professional development pathways.
• The panel appreciated when applicants explained why they were the appropriate artist(s) to tell the proposed stories, particularly for projects with personal, culturally-specific, or community-based subject matter.
• Projects involving Indigenous collaborators should demonstrate thoughtful, intentional, and respectful engagement. Applications lacking sensitivity or clarity in this area were less competitive.
• For applications in which the primary artist proposed to write characters outside their own lived experience, submissions were strengthened when they demonstrated meaningful and appropriate engagement with those communities (e.g., consultation, sensitivity readers, or other forms of informed collaboration).
• When proposing to work with collaborators (e.g., editors), applicants should clearly articulate why those individuals were selected and how they will contribute to the project.
• Preference was given to applications where the primary creative author was the applicant.
• For projects centered on a research phase, competitive applications clearly articulated proposed research sources, key questions, and methodologies; outlined how the research would be documented; and demonstrated how these processes would directly inform the development of the final manuscript or work.
• Self-publishing was recognized as a valid approach; however, applications were stronger when they clearly justified this choice and demonstrated a substantial body of work and strong artistic rationale.
• Applications were stronger when they demonstrated a clear understanding of who the work is intended for, rather than attempting to appeal to a broad or undefined audience.
• It was helpful when applicants framed their project by comparing it with other literary works.
• For those experimenting with a new genre or form, including a description of how you this exploration will feed into your overall creative practice was helpful.
• The panel acknowledged that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can support accessibility in grant writing. However, applications that appeared overly reliant on AI raised concerns. Transparency about whether and how AI tools were used was valued. 
   

Budget

• It is important to submit a clear, realistic budget. Use notes to explain units, quotes, how expense estimates were arrived at, for example. Detailed budgets were appreciated.
• Please review the guidelines and contact AFA arts development staff for questions about eligible expenses. Eligible subsistence expenses are housing, local transportation, food, childcare, dependent care, up to $3,000/month.
• Competitive applications were the ones where the budget reflected the same story being told in the project description. The panel appreciated budgets that aligned with the project description and reflected a thoughtful, realistic approach to achieving project goals.
• For projects with multiple revenue sources, the panel appreciated budgets that clearly outlined how each source of funding would be allocated to specific expense items.
   

Support material

• Support material that included samples of the current project was useful to the assessors. Please submit recent, relevant support material and writing samples.
• The panel positively assessed projects that included writing samples and artistic support material that provided evidence of a personal, literary, creative voice.
• The panel acknowledged that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can support accessibility in grant writing. However, applications that appeared overly reliant on AI raised concerns. Transparency about whether and how AI tools were used was valued.
• Strong writing samples were critical to assessment. The panel responded positively to submissions that demonstrated storytelling ability, narrative strength, and literary nuance.
• For emerging artists, or those experimenting with a new genre or form, applications were strengthened by the inclusion of support letters from established literary professionals that spoke to the applicant’s capacity or demonstrated willingness to mentor or support the development process.
• Applications that included insufficient or inaccurate support material (e.g., very short resumes, or writing excerpts) made it difficult for the panel to fully assess the applicant’s ability.
• The strongest applications were those that, regardless of experience, denoted nuance, literary depth, and commitment to craft.
• Support material that demonstrated a clear creative voice and commitment to storytelling strengthened applications.
• Panelists preferred when applicants included writing samples that were within the same genre as the proposed project. If this was not possible, including outlines or a short excerpt of writing in that genre helped. Alternatively, applicants could include past writing samples with a preamble articulating how it would inform their proposed practice.