Séries Mania Institute Writers Campus

Closed for this cycle

DORMANT: the last evidenced cycle is 2025 and no 2026 or 2027 window has been announced. The live page says applications are currently closed and this year's application period has ended, while every date on it remains a 2025 date, the governing terms are still headed 2025, and the fellows roster runs 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 then stops. On the established pattern of a March open, an April close and August-to-November sessions, a 2026 cohort would be starting sessions about now; neither a window nor a cohort has appeared. There is no hiatus or discontinuation notice anywhere, and the operator actively invites people to subscribe for an update on when the next application opens, so this is a programme in limbo rather than a dead one. Worth re-checking each March. FOR THE RECORD, THE 2025 DEADLINE WAS PUBLISHED TWO DIFFERENT WAYS: the programme page and FAQ said 28 April 2025 at 12PM EST, while the governing terms and conditions said the entry period ended at 12:00pm EST on 14 April 2025. Two weeks apart in the operator's own documents, with the legally governing one being the earlier. We have therefore stored no deadline at all rather than pick one. Context, not causation: Sesame Workshop announced major layoffs in March 2025, reported at around 20 per cent of staff; no source connects those cuts to this fellowship, and the 2025 cycle ran to completion afterwards.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 cycle is closed and no 2027 dates have been published. That cycle opened on 10 February 2026 with a regular deadline of 8 May at a 30 dollar fee and a final deadline of 22 May at 50 dollars. The fee is waived for SFFILM members, though the cheapest membership is 100 dollars a year. Submitting early confers no competitive advantage, and one fee covers a single application across several SFFILM narrative grants.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 cycle is closed and no 2027 dates have been published. That cycle opened on 10 February 2026 with a regular deadline of 8 May at a 30 dollar fee and a final deadline of 22 May at 50 dollars, finalists notified in late September and recipients announced in late October. The fee is waived for SFFILM members, though the cheapest membership is 100 dollars a year, so the waiver only saves money if you are already a member. One fee covers a single application across several SFFILM narrative grants.

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 round opened on 15 May and closed at 12 noon on 26 June 2026, with all applicants hearing back by 30 September. New Writing North's index says the awards open again later in 2027 without giving a month. The pattern is consistent in shape but drifting later: opening has been stable at 15 or 16 May, while the deadline has walked from 4 June in 2024 to 16 June in 2025 to 26 June in 2026, always at midday. The production partners rotate annually, so treat the company list as year-specific. A caution if you go looking: the strand cards still display live Enter here buttons and present-tense deadline text after closing, and the dedicated 2026 page carries no closure indicator at all, though the underlying submission forms are genuinely shut.

9 Oct 2026

Closed for this cycle

The 2026 cycle closed on 11 June 2026 and is still resolving: quarter-finalists were published on 16 July and semi-finalists on 30 July, both on schedule, with finalists due 27 August and the grand prize on 10 September 2026. No times of day or timezones are published for any deadline, so we have stored dates alone. The 2026 entry ladder ran Early 19 February at 35 US dollars, Regular 26 March at 45, Final 21 May at 65 and Extended 11 June at 75. Entry fees are non-refundable for any reason. No 2027 animation cycle has opened, and the recurrence record here is thinner than for the operator's other contests: only two cycles are evidenced, and the prior one carries no year label at all on its results page, so we cannot date it from the primary source. The operator does forward-date its cycles, having already opened a 2027 form for a sibling contest, so a 2027 animation window is plausible rather than assured.