All applicants must register with Grants.gov prior to submitting their applications. Registration is a one-time process, which can take a day or more to complete. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY OF THE APPLICATION DEADLINE TO REGISTER.

To register, click: Individual Registration. You will be asked to provide the Funding Opportunity Number of the grant. Enter 2010NEA03LFCW.

You do not need to complete the registration process to download the application package and begin to prepare your material (see below). However, you will need your Grants.gov Username and Password that you obtain in the final step of the registration process to submit your application.

To access the application package:

1. Verify your software

   You must have a version of Adobe Reader that is supported by Grants.gov installed on your computer before you download your application package from Grants.gov. Non-compatible versions of Adobe Reader or other Adobe products will lead to errors and prevent you from submitting your application. If more than one computer will be involved in the preparation of the application package, ensure that the same version of Adobe Reader is used.

   Please go to "Download Software" to see the compatible versions of Adobe Reader or to download and install Adobe Reader.

2. Access the application package on Grants.gov:

   

   [Funding Opportunity Number 2010NEA03LFCW]

3. After you download the application package, the Grants.gov "Grant Application Package" screen will open. Click on the "Save" button at the top of the form and save the application package to a location on your computer or network where you can find it readily. Close the saved application package before you start to work on it for the first time. Save your changes each time you work on your application. You do not need to be connected to Grants.gov or the Internet until you are ready to submit your completed application.

  To work on your application:

1. In the "Application Filing Name" field, enter your legal name.

2. Move all forms in the "Mandatory Documents" box to the “Mandatory Documents for Submission” box. You must move the forms before you can open them. Once moved, the two forms merge into a single document. You can access each form by clicking on it to highlight it and then clicking on the "Open Form" box OR you can scroll down your screen and you will come to each form in succession.

3. You can move around within and between forms by scrolling; by using the small blue arrows at the top of the forms; or, within the multi-page forms, by clicking on the "Next" or "Previous" button. Do not use the Back button arrow at the top of your screen as this will take you out of the Grant Application Package altogether.

4. Clicking on the "Close Form" button at the top of a screen will capture your information and return you to the "Grant Application Package" screen. Before closing the "Grant Application Package" screen, click on the "Save" button to save your most recent information.

5. When you click the “Save” button you will get the message "The File already exists. Replace existing file?" Click “Yes” to ensure the most recent version of your application is saved to the same location on your computer.

There are two mandatory forms that you must fill out before you can submit your application. On each form, you will find instructions by positioning the cursor over each item or, where relevant, over the radio button (the box to the left of the text) for an item. Please do not type in all capital letters when completing these forms. Enter information directly into the Grants.gov forms. Do not copy from an old application package or another document and paste into the forms.

The forms are:

1. Application for Federal Assistance SF 424 - Individual Form

2. Attachments Form

A complete application consists of: Application for Federal Domestic Assistance (SF-424) Attachments Form to which you have attached: Literature Fellowships Application Supplemental Information Form Manuscript material For FY 2010/Prose, 20-30 pages of sample text For FY 2011/Poetry, 10 pages of poetry Cover page Summary of applicant publications Applications that are determined to be incomplete will be rejected without panel review.

1. In the top left corner of the Grants.gov menu screen you will see buttons for Save & Submit, Save, Print, Cancel, and Check Package for Errors.

2. When you have completed your application (i.e., the two Mandatory Documents have been completed and saved), click the Check Package for Errors button to double check that you have provided all required information. This will alert you if you have left any required fields on the forms incomplete. This will not check the accuracy of your information or whether you have attached all required documents. Correct any errors and click Save to save your application package again. When your required fields are complete, you will receive the message, "Validation Passed."

3. If you want a hard copy of your completed application for your files, clicking the Print button will print out the two forms in the Mandatory Completed Documents for Submission box. For a hard copy of the items that you are attaching to the Attachments Form, you will have to print each of these out separately from your computer.

4. Click the Save & Submit button. [This button will not become active (and turn from light to dark gray) until you have saved your application with all required fields completed. Clicking this button will prompt you to save your application package one last time. When asked if you want to replace the existing file, click “Yes.” You will then be reconnected to Grants.gov and the Internet.] You will be prompted to provide your Grants.gov Username and Password that you obtained during registration. (REMINDER: You must have successfully completed the registration process in order to receive your Grants.gov Username and Password.)

5. Click the "Login" button. This will bring you to the "Application Submission Verification and Signature" screen, which provides a summary of the Funding Opportunity for which you are applying. If everything looks accurate, click the "Sign and Submit Application" button to complete the process. Be certain that you are satisfied with your application before you click this button. No revisions to your application are possible through Grants.gov once it is submitted.

   NOTE: If it appears that your submission is not being successfully transmitted to Grants.gov (e.g., you do not receive a confirmation screen), it is possible that your application actually was submitted. You can check if your submission was successful by seeing if you have received the e-mail notifications from Grants.gov detailed below or by calling the Grants.gov help desk. Do not try to submit your application again until you have verified that your submission was unsuccessful. An application may not be submitted successfully for a number of reasons, such as heavy usage on the Grants.gov system or security settings on your computer or your firewall. If your application was not submitted successfully, close your connection to Grants.gov and resubmit.

   If you do not want to submit the application at this time, click the "Exit" button. You will be returned to the previous page where you can make changes in your material or exit the process.

   Grants.gov will put a date/time stamp on your application when you click the "Sign and Submit Application" button. Your application must be stamped no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on the deadline date for your category; the Arts Endowment will not accept late applications. The Grants.gov Contact Center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

6. After you hit the "Sign and Submit Application" button, you will receive two notifications from Grants.gov:

   1. First, you will receive confirmation that your application was received by the Grants.gov system. This confirmation will include the Grants.gov Tracking Number assigned to your application. Keep a copy for your records. The Tracking Number also will be e-mailed to you.

   2. Soon thereafter (generally within two business days), you will receive notification as to whether your application was successfully validated by Grants.gov. If there are any errors in your application (e.g., you attach a file with a virus), it will be rejected by Grants.gov and not delivered to the NEA.

      If Grants.gov rejects your application and the deadline has not yet passed, you can correct the error(s) in your application and resubmit. If the deadline has passed, you will not have this opportunity.

      You must receive this validation e-mail or else your application was not accepted by Grants.gov due to error(s).

7. You also can track the progress of your application submission through Grants.gov by using your Username and Password to log in to the Grants.gov system and clicking on "Application Status."

8. After the deadline for this category, Grants.gov will notify you via e-mail when the Arts Endowment retrieves your application from Grants.gov, and again soon thereafter, when your application has been assigned an Agency Tracking Number (this will be the Arts Endowment-assigned application number). This process will serve to acknowledge the receipt of your application by the Arts Endowment.

Additional Help

For additional help on how to use Grants.gov, please see the help material on the Grants.gov website at Applicant Help. You also can send e-mail to the Grants.gov helpdesk at support@grants.gov or call them at 1-800-518-4726 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

If you contact Grants.gov for assistance, your question will be assigned a case number. This number only documents your inquiry to the help desk. It is: 1) not, in itself, an indication of a Grants.gov system problem; and 2) not related to the tracking number that Grants.gov will assign your application once it has been successfully submitted.

For specific help on how to complete your application, please review the instructions in these guidelines or contact the Literature staff at 202/682-5034 or LitFellowships@arts.gov.

NOTE: All asterisked (*) items and yellow fields on this form are required and must be completed before you will be able to submit the form.

1. Name of Federal Agency: Pre-populated.

2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: Pre-populated.

3. Date Received: This will be filled automatically with the date that you submit your application; leave blank.

4. Funding Opportunity Number: Pre-populated.

5. Applicant Information:

6. Project Information:

7. Signature Block:

The "Attachments Form" is not a form in the conventional sense. Rather, it is a place to attach documents that you have completed, converted to PDF (portable document format) files, and saved elsewhere on your computer. One of these documents is itself a fillable Arts Endowment form. The others are narratives or lists that you must develop in accordance with the instructions below and then convert to PDF files.

Several important points:

1. When submitting through Grants.gov, attach only one copy of each item.

2. Attachment 1 (Literature Fellowships Application Supplemental Information) is a fillable form. This form can be filled in, saved to your computer, and attached without the need for special software or conversion to PDF.

3. Attachments 2 - 4 are documents that you will develop in accordance with the instructions provided. These items must be submitted as PDF files. Using PDFs allows you to preserve the formatting of your documents so they can be presented to panelists exactly as you intend.

   These non-form documents can be created using any word processing software. When you have completed the document, save it to your computer and convert it to PDF before attaching. If you don't already have software to convert files to PDF, there are many low-cost and free software packages that can do this. To learn more, go to PDF Conversion Programs.

   Please make sure to convert your documents into PDF format in line with the guidance above. Do not create PDFs of your electronic documents by scanning. In the past, some applicants have printed their electronic documents and then scanned them, saving the scan in PDF format. PDFs created this way are much larger, and of lower quality, than PDFs created by the methods we recommend. Do not embed non-printable media files (video and/or sound) in your PDF documents. Static images (e.g., pictures) are acceptable. Please do not enable any document security settings or password protect any PDF file you submit to us.

4. For non-form documents, label pages clearly with the name of the item (e.g., Summary of Applicant Publications). Leave a margin of at least one inch at the top, bottom, and sides of all pages. Do not reduce type below 12 point font size. Do not type in all capital letters. Number pages sequentially.

5. Name your files as indicated below and attach them in the proper order. Please note that you cannot change the name of a file on the Attachments Form. Therefore make certain that each file is named correctly before you attach it. See below for details.

When you open the Grants.gov Attachments Form, you will find 15 attachment buttons, labeled "Attachment 1" through "Attachment 15." By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below.