Dear Amtrak Residency Applicant,

On behalf of Amtrak, I’d like to thank you for submitting your
application. The response from the literary community has been absolutely
tremendous and we are very grateful to have had the opportunity to read so
many heartfelt applications. We had over 16,100 applications and had the
difficult challenge to select only 115 semi-finalists. The quality of
applications was high, which made our decisions even tougher. We evaluated
each applicant based on the quality and completeness of their application
package, as well as the extensiveness of their social community and ability
to reach online audiences with content.

After carefully reviewing all the applicant packages, I regret to inform you
that your package was not selected to move forward in this year’s
residency selection process.

While we cannot offer you an official residency at this time, we would like
to offer you the opportunity to travel aboard our long distance service
using an exclusive Amtrak Residency discount code. You may use code [REDACTED]
when booking tickets online only from June 17, 2014 through August 31, 2014.
The 15% discount is available on all long distance trains for coach and
sleeping car accomodations for travel from August 19, 2014 through April 30,
2015.  You must book at least 14 days prior to travel.

We hope that this exclusive discount affords you the opportunity to
experience an Amtrak long distance route and find inspiration for your
writing.

We encourage you to re-apply for our residency program next year and we hope
to see you onboard soon!

You may find answers to frequently asked questions about the residency
program on the Amtrak blog.

Sincerely,
Julia Quinn
Director, Social Media