Fellowships
Division of Research Programs
THE DEADLINE FOR THIS CYCLE HAS PASSED.
Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.
Grant Snapshot
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Application available (anticipated)
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Starting February 21, 2022, you will be required to sign in to Grants.gov with Login.gov credentials. Create and link your account now.
NEH Fellowships are competitive awards granted to individual scholars pursuing projects that embody exceptional research, rigorous analysis, and clear writing. Applications must clearly articulate a project’s value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.
Fellowships provide recipients time to conduct research or to produce books, monographs, peer-reviewed articles, e-books, digital materials, translations with annotations or a critical apparatus, or critical editions resulting from previous research. Projects may be at any stage of development.
NEH invites research applications from scholars in all disciplines, and it encourages submissions from independent scholars and junior scholars.
Applicants interested in research projects that are either born digital or require mainly digital expression and digital publication are encouraged to apply instead for NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication.
What’s new for 2023
- A one-page attachment indicating your plan of work is required
- A writing sample is no longer required and should not be included
2023 NEH Fellowships Webinar
A free online information session was held on February 8, 2023, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The recording is provided below. The webinar introduces the program, describes the application process and eligibility criteria, and offers application writing suggestions. It consists of a 45-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Close captions are provided.
Read the notice of funding opportunity to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write the most effective application.
Application Materials
Fellowships Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2022 and 2023 (PDF)
Fellowships Grants.gov application package
Program Resources
Fellowships Frequently Asked Questions, 2022 and 2023 (PDF)
List of recently funded Fellowships
Sample Application Narratives
The narrative samples below are not intended to serve as models, but to give applicants a sense of how a successful application might be crafted. Note that the format might have been changed since these applications were submitted. Follow the guidelines in the currently posted Notice of Funding Opportunity to insure that your application is complete and eligible.
African Studies, A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi
American Literature, Poetry and Community in Auden and Others
American Studies, A Cultural History of the 1950s Calypso Craze in the United States
Asian Studies, Diaspora and Empire in Southern China, 1570-1850
Classics, Ovid’s Homer: Tradition, Authority, and Epic Reception
Comparative Literature, Moroccan Literature and the Memory of Medieval Muslim Iberia
European History, Emigration from Eastern Europe to the United States, 1889-1989
Film History, Newspapers and the Emergence of American Film Culture, 1911-1916
Latin American Studies, The Creole Circus and the Theater in Argentina and Uruguay, 1860-1910
Media Studies, A Cultural History of American Color Television
Medieval Studies, Secrecy and Divinity in Early English Literature
Middle Eastern Studies, The Formation of Islamic Civilization, 1040-1194
Music, Music in America's Cold War Diplomacy
Philosophy, Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition
Political Science, Tocqueville on Religion and Democracy
Religious Studies, Religious Liberty in Post-Revolutionary France
Renaissance Studies, Translation, Transnationalism, and Early English Print Culture
Russian History, Stalin's World and Dictatorship in Modern Times
U.S. History, African Americans who Returned to the United States from Canada after the Civil War
U.S. History, The Mutiny on the Hermione and American Political Culture
U.S. History, Voices of the Enslaved: Love, Labor, and Longing in French Louisiana
Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Grants.gov.
You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application. Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.
NEH will request letters of reference from your recommenders approximately seven to ten days after the application deadline. You will be notified by email when each of your letters of reference has been received. Once you receive final confirmation of receipt from Grants.gov, you may check the status of your letters by logging in to the secure area of NEH’s website. Enter your NEH application number and your Grants.gov tracking number. You will be able to see the names and e-mail addresses of your letter writers and whether their letters have arrived. If necessary, you may send reminders to your letter writers (including the upload link) from this site. You are responsible for ensuring that your letter writers have received the solicitations from NEH and submitted their letters.