WV Humanities Publication Grant

WV Humanities Publication Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: West Virginia Humanities Council
Amount: Up to US $20,000
Last Updated: July 17, 2025

Summary

The West Virginia Humanities Council provides matching grants to nonprofit organizations focused on public humanities programming in West Virginia. The Publication Grants aim to enhance the quality and number of books published on West Virginia topics and by local authors. These grants support the production phase of completed nonfiction manuscripts and require applicants to submit a previous publication sample and the manuscript for review. Projects must result in at least 250 copies of trade-quality books.

Overview

West Virginia Humanities Council The West Virginia Humanities Council offers a variety of matching grants to nonprofit organizations that provide public humanities programming for West Virginia audiences. What are the Humanities? The humanities represent a group of academic disciplines that have traditionally been concerned with values, ideas and choices. The humanities provide a framework for analyzing the human condition – for making sense of our roles in contemporary society. The term humanities includes the following: Language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, theory and criticism of the arts; those aspects of social sciences that have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to our diverse heritage, traditions and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current condition of national life. Publication Grants The goal of the West Virginia Humanities Council’s Publication grants is to increase the quality and quantity of books published on West Virginia topics in the humanities and by West Virginia authors on any subject in the humanities. These grants are available to recognized nonprofit and academic presses, and support only the production phase of a completed nonfiction manuscript. Applicants should allow twelve weeks between the deadline and the start of the project. Recent Example: A publication grant supported the book New Deal: Photographs of West Virginia 1934 – 1943.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Publication grants are available only to recognized nonprofit presses and academic presses, and support only the production phase of a completed nonfiction manuscript.These books may be text or photos or a combination of both. In the case of books of photography, the photographs must be documentary in character.The project schedule is limited to one year, and all projects must result in at least 250 copies of a book of acceptable trade quality. Book prices should reflect greater affordability due to the Humanities Council subsidy.In addition to information outlined in the General Grant Guidelines, Publication grant applications must include:A sample of a previous publication by the press that shows the expertise of personnel.A completed nonfiction manuscript of the work to be published. Publication grant applications are sent to external reviewers with professional expertise in media projects. These reviews are then forwarded to the Council’s Program Committee for consideration.