The K Blundell Trust, generously endowed by the late Miss Kathleen Blundell, awards grants to British authors under the age of 40 whose work aims to increase social awareness. The fund is open to authors resident in the United Kingdom who have previously had a work of which they are the sole author published. The K Blundell Trust accepts submissions for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and script projects. Grants are usually between £2,000-£3,000.

This fund will open for applications on Sunday 1 February 2026.
Deadline for applications: Sunday 1 March 2026.

The online application form will be available on this webpage from Sunday 1 February.

Eligibility information

• Applicants must be under the age of 40 on Sunday 1 March 2026.
• Applicants must be British by birth and currently resident in the United Kingdom.
• Grants are only awarded for one work-in-progress.
• Applicants must have a previous work, of which they are the sole author, published with a commercial UK publisher.
  (This must be different to the work-in-progress you are applying for. Please do get in touch to discuss your eligibility if you have a publishing contract for a book which is currently awaiting publication).
• Applicants who have previously received a K Blundell Trust Award, or Author’s Foundation grant, must wait four years before re-applying to the fund.
  (For example, if you received a work-in-progress grant in 2021, you must wait until 2026 before re-applying).

• You cannot apply for both the K Blundell Trust and Authors’ Foundation in the same calendar year
• Hybrid and self-published books are not currently eligible for the fund.
• Editors are not eligible.
• Grants cannot be awarded to cover publication, promotion, or production costs.
• We cannot accept applications for AI generated works.

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria above, please do check out the Authors’ Foundation. This fund also awards grants for works-in-progress and is open for applications all year round. You can find out more about both our work-in-progress grants via our Frequently Asked Questions. If you have any questions about your eligibility or require any help filling out the application form, please do drop us an email at grants@societyofauthors.org.

The wait time to hear back about the outcome of your grant application is expected to be a maximum of 10 weeks, but we will let you know if this is extended for any reason.

If your grant application is successful, payment will be made within 10 working days of the SoA receiving your payment information.

If you are in need of immediate assistance please consider an application to our Contingency Fund which is open year-round.

Previous K Blundell Trust recipients

The K Blundell Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number: 296487​).