Eligibility Criteria
The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is pleased to announce the 2025 WGA Mentorship program. The program is designed to meet the needs of emerging Alberta writers for guidance, collaboration and encouragement. This is not an introductory creative writing course; it is a one-on-one pairing of apprentices and mentors. The program is an intensive, hands-on opportunity intended to provide a disciplined and focused period of work for emerging writers. There is no cost to the apprentices. To qualify as an apprentice you will be expected to:
- Be an emerging writer—emerging meaning: generally, but not necessarily, having a professionally edited, published body of work (a book of poetry, nonfiction articles, fiction, or other narrative prose, or publications in magazines, periodicals, and/or anthologies)
- Be a current member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta
- Be a current Alberta resident and 18 years of age or older
- Regularly send materials to your mentor prior to each meeting, write a midterm and final assessment of the program
- Read a piece of your work, completed during the mentorship program, at a Writers’ Guild event
- Carefully consider time constraints before applying. Your mentor has committed to approximately 15 hours a month of their time to your work and development. You will be expected to dedicate a minimum of 20 to 25 hours per month to program work. This includes some combination of reading, writing, preparing for meetings, and time spent at the meetings
- Be flexible with communication and meeting scheduling in collaboration with the chosen mentor
Attachments
To apply, please submit an online application form below and the following attachments:
1) A writing résumé outlining your recent writing activities and any creative writing courses or workshops you’ve taken. If you are a published writer, provide a list of publications.
2) A cover letter stating:
- Which literary genre you are currently working on
- A brief description of your current work and an explanation of why you think this program would benefit you at this stage of your career
- Discuss the project you intend to work on during the program and what you would like to achieve (be specific in your goals). All apprentices MUST have an active project in process to qualify for this program
3) A 10-page writing sample (preferably from the project you are intending to work on; double-spaced and in a standard, regular-sized font)
4) Confirmation that you are an Alberta resident and 18 years or older (photocopy of a driver’s license, bills with current address, birth certificate)
If you are unable to submit the form online, please let us know at [email protected] or 780-422-8174 and we will make other arrangements.
Application Process
Deadline: Applications must be received by 4:30 pm MT on October 25, 2024. Late applications will not be accepted.
Successful applicants will be notified in November 2023.
Note: Apprentices are chosen based on independent adjudication. Adjudicators consider quality of writing, writing experience, benefit to artist at this stage of their career, and overall suitability to the program. The work of the jury is confidential, and unsuccessful applicants will not be informed as to why they were not chosen to participate.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your application has been successfully submitted, you should receive an automatic confirmation email. If you do NOT receive an email and it is not in your spam folder, we may not have received your application, so please try again or let us know so we can make other arrangements for your application
The WGA gratefully acknowledges the support of the RBC Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Alberta, City of Edmonton, City of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development, Edmonton Arts Council, and the John Gillese Fund.
Apprentice Application Form
Applications for the Mentorship Program are now closed.