USA Scholarships
Guggenheim Fellowship 2028 - Mid-Career US & Canada Award
The Guggenheim Fellowship is a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation that buys mid-career artists, writers, scholars and scientists six to twelve months to work on one project, in any of more than 50 fields, with no teaching or reporting strings attached. It is open to citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada, it costs nothing to apply, and the Foundation sizes each award to the project and the Fellow's other income rather than paying a fixed stipend. The 2027 competition opened in mid-August 2026 and closes at 11:59 pm Eastern on 15 September 2026, with work examples due by 29 September and reference letters by 13 October. If you cannot make that date, you are applying to the 2028 competition. Its dates have not been announced yet, but they are expected to follow the annual pattern: the portal opening in mid-August 2027, a deadline in mid-September 2027, and results in late April 2028.
What is the Guggenheim Fellowship?
The Guggenheim Fellowship is one of the oldest and best-known awards for working artists and researchers in North America. Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife Olga set up the foundation in 1925 in memory of their son, John Simon Guggenheim, and it has named a class of Fellows every year since. The idea has barely changed in a century. You get money and time to do one piece of work, whether that is a novel, a body of photographs, a string quartet, a history of a river or a set of experiments, under what the Foundation calls the freest possible conditions. Nobody tells you where to live or which office to sit in.
The money works differently from most fellowships, and that surprises first-time applicants. You will not find a posted stipend. The Foundation sets each grant by looking at your project and at what else you have coming in, such as sabbatical pay or another fellowship, and it says outright that it may not cover a project in full. You never submit a budget. If you are nominated, the Foundation asks for your financial information then. Plan on the grant as serious support for six to twelve months of work, not as a salary that replaces everything.
On timing, the 2027 US and Canada competition closes at 11:59 pm Eastern on 15 September 2026. If your three documents are nearly done and your referees are lined up, you can still make it. If not, aim for the 2028 competition. The Foundation has kept the same calendar for years: the portal opens in mid-August, applications close in mid-September, work examples and reference letters follow within about a month, and results arrive in late April. Expect the 2028 round to follow that pattern, with a deadline around mid-September 2027, and confirm the date on gf.org when it goes live.
A year's lead time helps more than you might think. The 2026 class had 223 Fellows out of nearly 5,000 applicants, so the Statement of Plans has to be sharp, specific and readable by someone outside your field, since it is the only document your referees ever see. Use the time to finish work that strengthens your record and to choose referees who know your recent output. If you want a residential year instead of a free-standing grant, compare the Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship in Cambridge and the Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library, both of which pay a fixed stipend and give you a desk.
Eligibility
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✓US or Canadian citizen or permanent residentYou must hold citizenship or permanent residency in the United States or Canada when you apply. Citizens can live anywhere in the world, and permanent residents qualify whatever their country of origin. Nobody else is eligible for this competition.
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✓Mid-career, with a notable recordThe Guggenheim Fellowship is for people who have already made significant, recognized contributions to their field. The Foundation measures mid-career by your professional output, not your age: the 2026 class ran from 28 to 76 years old.
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✓Not enrolled as a studentAnyone currently enrolled in a secondary, undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate program is ruled out. Finish your degree before you apply.
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✓Never held a Guggenheim FellowshipPast Guggenheim Fellows cannot apply again. If you applied before and were turned down, you can try again in a later year.
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✓Applying as an individualOrganizations and institutions cannot apply, and group-authored projects are not considered. Two people who share a project equally may apply jointly with matching applications, and they split one award if chosen.
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✓One focused projectThe application centres on a single project you can move forward during six to twelve months. The Foundation says tightly focused proposals do better than ones that sprawl across several disciplines or goals.
Benefits
- Grant amount Varies, set per Fellow
- Period of support 6 to 12 months
- Freedom over how you work Your project, your schedule
- Combine with sabbatical salary Allowed
- Combine with other fellowships Allowed
- Application fee None
- Guaranteed full project funding Not guaranteed
Document checklist
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✓Online application formNine sections on competition.gf.org covering contact details, project title and field, addresses, positions, languages, organizations, education, references and supporting documents. You do not need an institutional affiliation; independent applicants enter none.
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✓Career NarrativeA prose account of your career of up to 1,000 words (about four double-spaced pages). Do not upload a resume in its place. Name your prizes, honors and major grants or fellowships, with the grantor and dates for each.
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✓List of your most significant worksA chronological list of your key publications, exhibitions, performances, compositions or films. The current guide caps it at seven entries (the 2026 guide allowed ten). Work in progress can go on it.
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✓Statement of PlansUp to 1,000 words describing the project you will work on during the fellowship, plus an optional page of endnotes or bibliography. Write it in the first-person singular and leave out any budget. Your referees see only this document, so it has to make sense on its own.
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✓Three or four referencesNames and contact details for people who know your recent work and can speak to the whole course of your career. Dealers, agents and editors make weak referees. The Foundation emails them directly and does not accept Interfolio letters.
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✓Work examples (arts and scholarship)Sent only after the Foundation emails you instructions. Artists must submit them, scholars should, and scientists do not need to. Limits include up to 20 images for visual artists and photographers, three films or recordings as Vimeo, YouTube or SoundCloud links, and up to three published books.
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✓Formatting rules for every PDFEach supporting document must be a double-spaced PDF in a 12-point standard font, portrait orientation, unsecured, and under 5 MB. Files that break these rules may not upload.
How to apply
Deadline and timeline
FAQ
What is the Guggenheim Fellowship?
It is a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which has been giving fellowships since 1925. It pays for six to twelve months of work on one project by an artist, writer, scholar or scientist who has already done notable work. The Foundation has awarded close to $450 million to more than 19,000 Fellows over its history.
Who is eligible for a Guggenheim Fellowship?
Mid-career people who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada and who have made recognized contributions to their field. US and Canadian citizens can apply from anywhere, and permanent residents qualify regardless of where they were born. Current students and past Guggenheim Fellows cannot apply, and neither can organizations.
How much money is a Guggenheim Fellowship?
The Foundation does not publish a fixed amount. It says grant sizes vary and that it tries to spread its funds fairly, looking at each Fellow's other resources and at the scope of the project. It also does not promise to fund any project in full. You leave the budget out of your application; only nominated candidates are asked for financial details.
When is the Guggenheim Fellowship deadline?
The 2027 competition closes at 11:59 pm Eastern on 15 September 2026, with work examples due by 29 September and reference letters by 13 October. The deadline was 16 September in 2025, so the 2028 competition is expected to close in mid-September 2027. Check gf.org once the portal reopens in August 2027 for the exact date.
How hard is it to get a Guggenheim Fellowship?
Very hard. The Foundation named 223 Fellows in April 2026 from nearly 5,000 applicants, and it says success rates have hovered around 5% in recent years. The 2026 class came from 55 fields, and about a third of them had no full-time university job, so a strong independent record counts as much as an academic post.
Can graduate students apply for a Guggenheim Fellowship?
No. Anyone enrolled in a secondary, undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate program is ineligible. Faculty members are welcome, though, including those on sabbatical with full or partial salary, and so are people holding other fellowships or appointments at research centers.
Is the Guggenheim Fellowship only for artists?
No. Awards go across more than 50 fields in the creative arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, including interdisciplinary areas such as climate studies and Indigenous studies. Applicants in the sciences do not need to send work examples, while artists must and scholars are asked to send published books.
Can I reapply for a Guggenheim Fellowship if I am rejected?
Yes, unsuccessful applicants can apply again in a later competition, and your account carries over. The Foundation's advice is that the strongest reapplications come from people whose record has clearly changed since the last try, through new work, new recognition or new momentum. Only past Fellows are barred.
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