Application Guidelines
Applications for 2026 Hot Desk Fellowships will be open from Tuesday 13 January and close at 5pm AEDT Friday 20 February 2026.
Successful applicants will be announced at the end of April via The Wheeler Centre website.
Guidelines for applicants
- Successful applicants will receive a dedicated hot desk at The Wheeler Centre for a specified period and a stipend of $1,250.
- Twenty-two (22) fellowships will be offered in total. Twenty (20) fellowships are open to writers of any form or genre and are supported by the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Arts. One (1) Just Pretending Playwright Fellowship is offered to a woman (cis or trans) or non-binary person who is an emerging playwright, supported by the Just Pretending theatre group. One (1) Gabrielle Williams Fellowship is offered to an emerging writer of Young Adult fiction, supported by the Readings Foundation.
- Each Hot Desk fellowship lasts for a period of ten (10) weeks. Writers are encouraged to utilise their hot desk space as frequently as possible during this period but are not required to be in the space full-time. Fellows will be required to attend a compulsory induction at the start of the fellowship.
- Each fellowship will be awarded on the strength and merit of the application and the written sample. In addition, we aim to award fellowships to a diverse group of writers.
- Fellowships are offered to writers in order to produce a specific piece of work, either in full or in part, during their time at The Wheeler Centre.
- The Wheeler Centre reserves the right to publish all or part of the fellows’ project descriptions, or excerpts of the final project, on our website or in other Wheeler Centre publications. On request, successful applicants agree to provide a photograph for publicity purposes and to The Wheeler Centre publishing approximately 500 words from their work-in-progress on its website. Copyright will remain with the fellowship recipient.
- Payment of the stipend will be made in two parts – one payment to be made at the commencement of the fellowship, and one upon its completion.
- The Wheeler Centre will endeavour to offer fellowships to each successful applicant during their preferred intake period but cannot guarantee this.
- Applicants who have previously received a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship are ineligible in 2026.
- Applicants can submit only one (1) application per year.
- Hot Desk Fellowships are open to applicants holding any visa type.
- Full-time or part-time Wheeler Centre staff, Wheeler Centre Resident Organisation staff, and University of Melbourne staff are ineligible for consideration for a 2026 Hot Desk Fellowship. Readings Head Office staff are ineligible for the Gabrielle Williams Fellowship.
- The sample of writing must be supplied in PDF form. The sample should provide an example of your proposed project, and must use the following naming convention: surname_initial_title.pdf
The sample should be in Times New Roman, font size 12, 1.5 line spacing.
For fiction/non-fiction prose, 1 to 2 pages.
For poetry, include 3 poems, total up to 3 pages. Each poem should showcase different styles and strengths.
For screenplays, include 3 to 4 pages of a script, preferably do not submit treatments.
For plays, include 3 to 4 pages of a script.
For graphic narratives or comic, include up to 5 pages. The writing sample must include illustrations.
For hybrid works, please contact us to discuss by calling reception or emailing inquiries to hotdesk@wheelercentre.com.
[Please note: If you submit a sample longer than the maximum requested length, the entirety of the sample may not be read.] - If generative AI has been used in the entrant’s writing sample, this must be clearly labelled as such. The Wheeler Centre may determine a submission to be ineligible if any part of writing sample submitted includes undisclosed AI-generated content.
- Applications close at 5pm on Friday 20 February 2026 and late applications will not be considered for selection.
- The selection panel’s decision is final.
Information and enquiries
For further information, please contact:
Pranati Narayan Visweswaran
Program Administrator
Email: hotdesk@wheelercentre.com
The Hot Desk Fellowships are made possible by the generous support of the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, the Readings Foundation and the Just Pretending theatre group.
