The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown
extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity
for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for
important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the
fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.
The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own
creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation
awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers,
scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, activists, or workers in other fields,
with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise,
engage in interdisciplinary work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their
careers.
Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a reward for past
accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the
purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative
instincts for the benefit of human society.
The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or
reports from MacArthur Fellows, and does not evaluate recipients'
creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is
a "no strings attached" award in support of people, not
projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $500,000 to the
recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years.
How Fellows are chosen
Each year, the MacArthur Fellows Program invites new nominators on the basis of their expertise,
accomplishments, and breadth of experience. They are encouraged to nominate the most creative people
they know within their field and beyond. Nominators are chosen from as broad a range of fields and
areas of interest as possible. At any given time, there are usually more than one hundred active
nominators.
Nominations are evaluated by an independent Selection Committee composed of about a dozen leaders in the arts, sciences, humanities, and nonprofit communities. Each nomination is considered with respect to the program's selection criteria, based on the nomination letter along with original works of the nominee and evaluations from other experts collected by the program staff.
After a thorough, multi-step review, the Selection Committee makes its recommendations to the President and board of directors of the MacArthur Foundation. Announcement of the annual list is usually made in June. While there are no quotas or limits, typically 20 to 30 Fellows are selected each year. Between June of 1981 and October of 2003, 659 Fellows have been named.
Nominators, evaluators, and selectors all serve anonymously and their correspondence is kept confidential. This policy enables participants to provide their honest impressions independent of outside influence.
The Fellows Program does not accept applications or unsolicited nominations.
Eligibility
There are no restrictions on becoming a Fellow, except that nominees must be either residents or
citizens of the United States.
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