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The MacArthur Fellowship is a prestigious $500,000 award given annually to individuals who show exceptional promise in their field, nominated by experts in various fields. Recipients are not required to show results or produce specific work, but are chosen for their extraordinary creative potential.
The MacArthur Fellowship, Genius Award or MacArthur Fellows program is a $500,000 United States Dollar (USD) award given to various individuals annually by the MacArthur Foundation. The foundation began operating in 1978 and began awarding its first grants in 1981. Since then, it has been considered one of the most enviable grants to obtain, although its application is not similar to many other grant programs. Typically, nominees are those who show exceptional promise in their field, which can occur in any number of disciplines. Candidates have generally demonstrated past work of extraordinary merit and will likely be able to use fellowship funds to encourage more creative work.
People cannot apply for a MacArthur Fellowship. In fact, they don’t really have any path to the award unless one of the people employed as a nominator suggests them. The foundation has numerous experts in a variety of fields who serve as nominators each year and work hard to select people they know, know or have heard of, who can benefit from a MacArthur Fellowship and who deserve one because of extraordinary creativity or potential that can have a strong positive impact on the world. Each year, a selection committee and the head of the foundation evaluate all nominees. They determine the best people to receive the award. The number of people who receive the award per year can vary, but is usually in excess of 20. Aside from possessing “genius”, the only requirements for any nominee are that they are legally resident in the US or US citizens.
Nominations for a MacArthur Fellowship are normally kept confidential. Those who receive the award often have no idea they were nominated for it. Rising stars in various fields can expect to receive a nomination, but there’s usually no way to say for sure, especially if the award isn’t won.
Another unusual aspect about the MacArthur Fellowship is that recipients are not expected to show results to receive it. They don’t have to produce a specific type of work. Additionally, the continuing privilege of receiving a scholarship, paid in five increments of $100,000, is not based on production. Even without restrictions of this nature, many people who receive this award are selected for their extraordinary creative potential, and many become well known and make a significant contribution to their field. A list of some of the recipients of the MacArthur Brotherhood makes this clear. Some of the award winners are: Robert Penn Warren, Stephen Jay Gould, Harold Bloom, Thomas Pynchon, Sarah Sze and Cynthia Moss.
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