Applications for 2026 Summer Fishtrap Fellowships have closed.
Summer Fishtrap registration opens January 28, 2026.
Fishtrap Fellowships recognize and encourage writers who show promise at an early stage in their career. The primary benefit of this award is an opportunity to attend the 39th Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers, June 23-28, 2026 at Wallowa Lake. Each Fishtrap Fellow receives early workshop registration and a featured reading during the week. Fellows are also highlighted in Fishtrap promotional materials, press releases, and on the Fishtrap website.
A Fishtrap Fellowship covers the cost of the seven-day conference including a five-day writing workshop, readings, activities, panel discussions, and special events. Fishtrap Fellows also receive meals and lodging for the week, and a $150 travel stipend. A Fishtrap Fellowship is valued at more than $2000, but more than that, it is an opportunity for emerging writers to build new friendships and a renewed sense of creative potential in an atmosphere of mentorship and community.
Judging Process and Eligibility
Fishtrap Fellowships support emerging writers whose work shows promise of excellence. Applicants can be of any age, but must be in the early stages of their writing careers and will not have had the support needed to achieve major recognition for their work. We define “emerging writer” as someone who is not on faculty at a college or university, has not yet published a book by a literary publisher or under contract to a publisher for a book. Eligible applicants may have been published in magazines, chapbooks, zines, or in print and online literary journals.
Fishtrap accepts submissions in the genres of Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction/Memoir. In keeping with Fishtrap’s mission, “To cultivate clear thinking and good writing in and about the West,” applicants should live in the Western US or write about themes surrounding the West. Your cover letter and resumé will help us make that determination.
Applications are screened for completeness and eligibility. Writing samples are reviewed by Preliminary Judges who select 3-5 finalists from each genre. Applicant names are not sent to the Judges, they only see an applicant’s writing sample. Finalists are then forwarded to the final Fellowship Judge who selects the 2026 Fellowship awards.
Fellowship applications are accepted November 1 through December 1, 2025.
Notifications for the 2026 Fellowship awards will arrive in mid-January 2026.
Read about our 2026 Summer Fishtrap Fellows
2026 Summer Fishtrap Fellowship Judge: Nick Neely
Nick Neely is the author of the essay collection Coast Range, a finalist for the John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing, and the travelogue Alta California, an LA Times Bestseller detailing his twelve-week trek from San Diego to San Francisco to retrace the first overland Spanish expedition through that territory. He is a recipient of PEN Northwest’s Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency, a UC Berkeley–11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, and an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. He teaches at Eastern Oregon University and directs its low-res MFA program in creative writing with a special concentration in Landscape, Ecology, and Community.
