Fellowships

Division of Research Programs

Grant Snapshot

Maximum award amount

$60,000 ($5,000 per month)

Open to

Individuals

Expected output

Book;
Critical Edition;
Digital Resource or Publication;
Other Scholarly Resource;
Peer-reviewed Article;
Translation with annotations or critical apparatus

Period of performance

Six to twelve months

Application available (anticipated)

Next deadline (anticipated)

Expected notification date

Project start date

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.

Review your application package

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

Latin American Studies, Reading Programs, Cultural Engagement, and Civic Participation in Latin America

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

    Complete your application package

    Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Grants.gov.

    Submit your application package on 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.

    Monitor the status of the submission of your letters of recommendation

    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.

    Program Statistics

    In the last five competitions this program received an average of
    1,120
    Applications
    per year
    This program has a
    7%
    Funding Ratio
    NEH made an average of
    79
    Awards
    per year

    Examples of Projects Funded by this Grant Program