DENTON (UNT), Texas -- College and university students may apply for several awards to attend the 2014 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, which will be held July 18-20 (Friday-Sunday) at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas. Several of the awards are also open to non-students. Applications are being accepted for the awards through June 20 (Friday).

Hosted by the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, which is part of the University of North Texas' Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism, the conference, now in its 10th year, attracts approximately 300 participants each year who are interested in narrative nonfiction. This year's theme is Narratives on the Cutting Edge: Writing about Science, Technology, Medicine and Innovation. The conference's more than 20 guest speakers include three keynote speakers:

• David Quammen, contributing writer for National Geographic and author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic;
• Lawrence Wright, staff writer for The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose latest book is Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief; and
• Sheri Fink, also a Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital," a New York Times bestseller.

All of the awards will cover the conference registration fee of $425. Some of the awards will also cover accommodations at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center, and entry fees for the conference's Personal Essay, Book Manuscript and Reported Narrative contests, which applicants for some of the awards are required to enter.The top three winners of all three of these contests receive $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000.

The awards being offered for this year's Mayborn conference are:

Minority Awards sponsored by The Dallas Morning News -- These five awards are open to students from racial and ethnic minority groups who are currently enrolled at any community college or university, or graduated in May 2014. Students must have minimum grade point averages of 3.0, and be able to spend the entire weekend at the conference, to be eligible.

Mayborn Emerging Writer Awards -- These three awards are open to undergraduate and graduate students from any college or university who are enrolled in writing degree programs, such as biography, creative nonfiction, English, history and journalism. Professional writers working for newspapers, magazines, alternative weekly publications and other digital and print publications are also eligible. Applicants for the awards must submit two nonfiction narrative stories that were published in print or online, or enter one of the Mayborn conference's writing contests in personal essay, reported narrative or book narrative. Applicants must also be able to spend the entire weekend at the conference.

El Futuro Literario Awards -- These two awards are open to Hispanic undergraduate or graduate students from any college or university who are enrolled in writing degree programs, such as biography, creative nonfiction, English, history and journalism. Hispanic professional writers and publishers working for newspapers, magazines, alternative weekly publications and other digital and print publications, or any writer covering Hispanic issues at these publications, are also eligible. . Applicants for the awards must submit five examples of their writing that were published in print or online, or enter one of the Mayborn conference's writing contests in personal essay, reported narrative or book narrative. Applicants must also be able to spend the entire weekend at the conference. One award will cover registration, accommodations and the writing contest entry fee. The second award will cover only registration and the contest entry fee.

Mayborn Graduate Student Literary Journalism Award -- This award is open only to students currently enrolled in the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism. Applicants must submit a cover letter about their interest in the award and two examples of their writing that were published in print or online, and must enter one of the Mayborn conference's writing contests in personal essay, reported narrative or book narrative. Applicants must also be able to spend the entire weekend at the conference. The award covers registration and the contest entry fee.

More information about the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference and its speakers is available online. For questions about the awards, contact the Kelly Briggs in the Mayborn School of Journalism at 940-565-4778 or send a message to maybornconferenceinfo@unt.edu.