This summer, the NWP received a $450,000 bequest to help start a series of summer fellowships for NWP students.

The Norb Trato Longform Research Awards will be granted annually to graduate students needing funds to conduct travel research during the summer months. The donor, University of Iowa alum Norb Trato, spent decades as a broadcast journalist in Chicago, where he frequently reported for NBC News.

During his retirement, however, Norb found himself reading more and more “creative nonfiction,” which is when he says he discovered several books by NWP alum.

While visiting the NWP’s new building this summer, Norb said he admired the diversity of writing he’s found among the program’s alumni, and wanted to encourage the program’s tradition of “writing about the world.”

Recipients of the new Norb Trato Longform Research Awards will enjoy two months of uninterrupted research funding during June and July, when their University funding as Teaching Assistants is usually on hold.

Says John D’Agata, who secured the bequest, “It’s a game-changer for our students, who are usually scrambling each Spring to find part-time jobs to help get them through the summer. Thanks to Mr. Trato’s generous gift, the creative momentum that our students build during the school year can now go uninterrupted through the summer.”

The first recipients of the NWP’s new summer fellowships will be announced in Spring 2024.