Application Guidelines — Guggenheim Fellowship — Guggenheim Fellowships: Supporting Artists, Scholars, & Scientists

The Guggenheim Fellowship is a mid-career award supporting the work of individuals who have made notable contributions to more than fifty fields across the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary areas.

Each year, roughly 200 Fellows are selected through a rigorous competition that assesses both past accomplishments and future plans. Recent success rates have averaged around 5%.

Please note that the Foundation is in the process of making changes to our 2027 competition timeline and application instructions. The new schedule and guidelines will be announced when the application portal opens in late summer. Thank you for your patience!

The 2026 United States and Canada competition is now closed.

The 2027 competition will open for applications in late summer 2026.

A record of past accomplishment, the promise of future achievement

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must:

Be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada.
Be mid-career professionals who have made notable contributions to their field
Propose a significant project and demonstrate that they are prepared to complete it at the highest level of excellence.
Apply as individuals or in pairs (i.e., two individuals working on the same project).

INELIGIBILITY

The following are not eligible to apply:

Individuals who have already received a Guggenheim Fellowship

Students currently enrolled in secondary, undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate programs.

Organizations, institutions, or other established groups

To learn more about the individuals we support, we recommend consulting the list of recent Guggenheim Fellows here.

Rigor, fairness, and confidentiality

The Guggenheim Foundation draws upon a network of several hundred advisers to carefully assess each application. Multiple layers of review ensure that evaluations are impartial, comprehensive, and of the highest possible standard. Advisers’ identities are confidential, guaranteeing a fair and meticulous review and ensuring that the focus stays squarely on the merit and originality of the work submitted.

We regret that we are unable to provide feedback on applications.