Funding Opportunity for
Fellowships
Maximum award amount
Expected output
Period of performance
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.
Applicants to NEH for awards with expected issuance dates on or after October 1, 2024, should be aware of revisions to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR Part 200) effective from that date. All NEH awards issued on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the revised regulations. Exemption Note: While awards to individuals do not include budgets, indirect costs, or single audits, broader revisions to 2 CFR 200 may be applicable.
Additional information is available at https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/2024-Revisions-to-2-CFR-200
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 Fellowships for Digital Publication.
Note about Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence
This grant program is one of ten NEH programs that are part of NEH’s Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, which is encouraging research on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. To learn more about the initiative, please see our page about the AI initiative.
2024 NEH Fellowships Webinar
A free online information session will be held on February 14, 2024, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. A recording will be provided. 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.
Please register for this webinar here.
Examples of Projects Funded by this Grant Program
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Application Instructions
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
Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2024 (PDF)
Grants.gov application package
Program Resources
Frequently Asked Questions, 2024 (PDF)
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 ensure that your application is complete and eligible.
American Literature, Poetry and Community in Auden and Others
American Studies, A Cultural History of the 1950s Calypso Craze in the United States
Architecture, Materialized: The Global Life of Steel
Asian Studies, A Chinese Man-of-Letters in an Age of Industrial Capitalism: Chen Diexian (1879-1940)
British Literature, Paper Art and Craft: Victorian Writers and Their Materials
Classics, Ovid’s Homer: Tradition, Authority, and Epic Reception
Comparative Literature, Moroccan Literature and the Memory of Medieval Muslim Iberia
Comparative Literature, The Aesthetic Cold War: Decolonization and Global Literature
European History, Emigration from Eastern Europe to the United States, 1889-1989
History of Science, Inside-Out Earth: Residual Governance Under Extreme Conditions
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 History and Criticism, The Comedians of the King
Political Science, Tocqueville on Religion and Democracy
Religious Studies, Temples of Humanity: A Religious History of American Secularism
U.S. History, African Americans who Returned to the United States from Canada after the Civil War
U.S. History, Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country
U.S. History (work plan only), Old Age in the Wake of the American Revolution
U.S. History, Race, Liberty, and Policing before the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
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
When you are ready to apply, register for a Grants.gov account. If you already have registered, make sure the account is current. After registering, you must add an “individual applicant” profile. Click on the “My Account” link, then on “Manage Profiles” and “Add Profile.” Refer to Grants.gov’s instructions for adding a profile.
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.