NEA National Heritage Fellowship Nomination Form

To submit a complete nomination, there are two steps:

Step 1: Complete and submit the form below by Monday, May 11, 2026, by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time.

Step 2: Submit nomination work samples and letters of support to the Applicant Portal, from Friday, May 15, 2026, to Friday, May 22, 2026, by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time. (Your user ID and password to the Applicant Portal will be emailed to you by the end of day on May 15, 2026.)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • A nominee must be a living U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
  • Nominations must be submitted in English.
  • Late, ineligible, and incomplete nominations will not be reviewed.
  • Exceptions to the deadline will be considered only for technical malfunctions that are the result of failures on the part of NEA systems, as determined by the NEA. To be considered for this exception, you must provide documentation of a NEA systems failure that prevented your submission by the deadline.
  • In the event of a major emergency (e.g., a hurricane or NEA systems technological failure), the NEA Chair may adjust application deadlines for affected nominations. If a deadline is extended for any reason, an announcement will be posted on our website.
  • Do not seek information on the status of your nomination before Spring 2027.

Step 1 is a web form and it does not have all the features of a word processing program (i.e., you cannot format your text with bold or italics, and you cannot use the spelling check feature). Use quotation marks or capital letters to set off titles of works or productions. We suggest writing your answers in your preferred word processing program and then copying and pasting your answers into the boxes provided in this webform.

Take a screenshot of the confirmation page after submitting your nomination to document your submission.

Nominee Information

Enter the name of the individual or group you are nominating:

*Nominations may be for an individual or for a group of individuals (e.g., a duo, but not an incorporated organization).

or

If known, provide your nominee’s contact information:

Preferred Telephone Numbers:

Use the box below to tell us about your nominee.

Define the nominee’s cultural tradition and/or folk and traditional art form. If you are submitting your nominee for a Bess Lomax Hawes Fellowship, indicate it here.

Required Nominator Information

Provide your name and contact information.

Preferred Telephone Numbers:

If you have any questions, email: heritage@arts.gov

Privacy Act

The following notice is furnished in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a.

This information is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 20 U.S.C. 951 et seq. and is primarily used for the purpose of application review. Personal data, such as home address or personal cell phone number may not be released, either in entirety or in part, as exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Failure to provide the requested information could result in rejection of your application.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at an average of 1 hour per response including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. We welcome any suggestions that you might have on improving the guidelines and making them as easy to use as possible. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: webmgr@arts.gov, attention: Reporting Burden. Note: Applicants are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires 11/30/2026

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.