Fellowships
Funding Opportunity for Individuals
Maximum award amount $60,000 ($5,000 per month)
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 January 15, 2027
Deadline April 14, 2027
Expected notification date January 31, 2028
Project start date April 1, 2028 September 1, 2029
Apply Now on Grants.gov
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.
About the Program Application Instructions
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, born-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 encourages submissions from independent scholars and junior scholars.
The 2026 Fellowships competition will only accept projects for research in American history and culture and Western civilization. Competitive applications must focus on topics in the history, culture, and government of the United States in any period from the Colonial Era to the present, or topics in Western civilization from antiquity to the present.
What's New
- You can apply to only one program at each deadline.
- Fellowship awards are paid directly to the applicant, not to their institutions.
- Learn about NEH's implementation of recent Executive Orders.
Examples of Projects Funded by this Grant Program
The Life of American Author Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Leonard Bernstein and the Theater The Public Library in the Life of the American People, 1850-2000
View All Projects
Next Application Instructions
Contact
Division of Research 202-606-8200 fellowships@neh.gov If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
Program Statistics
In the last five competitions this program received an average of 1033 Applications per year
This program has a 7% Funding Ratio
NEH made an average of 69 Awards per year
Review your application package
Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the Program Announcement for Fellowships to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write an effective application.
Application Materials Fellowships 2026 Program Announcement (PDF) Notice of Funding Opportunity (PDF) Grants.gov application package
Program Resources Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for NEH Grant Proposals
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.
Architecture, Materialized: The Global Life of Steel British Literature, Paper Art and Craft: Victorian Writers and Their Materials Classics, Ovid’s Homer: Tradition, Authority, and Epic Reception German Studies (includes new work plan format), Disinformation and the Illustrierter Beobachter, 1926–1945 Italian Literature (Translation Project), 'The First Novel Specially Written for Women'- Jacopo Caviceo's Peregrino (1508) Legal History (includes new work plan format), Ordering Property- A Global History of Maritime Prize Law, 1498-1916 Medieval Studies, Secrecy and Divinity in Early English Literature Music History and Criticism, The Comedians of the King Religious Studies, Temples of Humanity: A Religious History of American Secularism Russian History, Europe's Russian Colonies: Tsarist Subjects Abroad and the Quest for Freedom in the 19th Century 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
Register for an account on Grants.gov
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.
Register with Grants.gov Grants.gov Applicant Registration Guidance Download Adobe Reader Tips for making PDFs
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.