Published writers from Western Pennsylvania can win a month-long overseas residency, in Brussels.

The opportunity comes courtesy of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, which issued its call for applications today.

Writers applying for the City of Asylum/Pittsurgh Prize must be from one of nine area counties, age 30 or older, and have published at least one full-length book of poetry, fiction or non-fiction.

The deadline is noon Dec. 31, 2012. Here’s the application, with complete guidelines.

The all-expenses-paid residency in Belgium is a collaboration with Brussels-based literary organization het beschrijf. The prize is part of City of Asylum’s initiative to create international writer residencies for writers from this region.

“We hope to create a network of opportunities for writers in Pittsburgh and to build bridges between City of Asylum and literary organizations in other cities,” COPA/P co-founder and president Henry Reese said in a statement.

COAP was founded in 2004 to shelter and support writers persecuted in their home countries. Writers in residence in the group’s North Side abodes have hailed from China, Myanmar and Venezuela, among others.

The group also publishes the online magazine Sampsonia Way and sponsors frequent readings and other literary events, including the popular annual Jazz Poetry Concert.

The panel selecting the City of Asylum/Pittsurgh Prize winner is headed by award-winning poet Toi Derricotte, a Pitt professor.