AmericanScholarship - Update on Scholarships in America

Fellowships support students working in ancient, medieval, Renaissance and early modern studies, or modern Italian studies for whom research time in Italy, and especially in the city of Rome, is essential, and who have not had extensive prior experience there.

Each Rome Prize winner is provided with a stipend, meals, a bedroom with private bath, and a study or studio. Those with children under 18 live in partially subsidized apartments nearby. Winners of 6-month and 11-month fellowships receive stipends of $12,000 and $24,000, respectively. Due to the fluctuating dollar/euro exchange rate and the high cost of living in Rome, the stipends offered may not cover all expenses. This is especially true for prize winners who come to Rome with spouses, companions and/or children.

Fellowships generally begin at the Academy in early September and end in early August. Winners of the 11-month Rome Prize fellowships may elect to depart the Academy after nine months with no reduction to the fellowship stipend.

Eligibility

• Applicants for all Rome Prize fellowships, except those applying for the NEH post-doctoral fellowship, must be United States citizens at the time of application.
• .S. citizens and those foreign nationals who have lived in the U.S. for the three years immediately preceding the application deadline may apply for the NEH post-doctoral fellowships.
• Graduate students in the humanities may apply only for pre-doctoral fellowships.
• Previous winners of the Rome Prize are not eligible to re-apply.
• Undergraduate students are not eligible for Rome Prize fellowships.

Individuals may submit joint applications provided that the work is genuinely collaborative in nature as demonstrated by the materials submitted. In the case of joint applications, each individual must meet all eligibility requirements. Joint applications must be submitted in one package. Joint applicants selected as winners will share one prize.

Winners of the Rome Prize may hold other fellowships concurrently, as long as the requirements of such fellowships do not conflict with the Academy’s rules. Applicants are required to disclose all fellowships and awards they expect to hold during their proposed residency in Rome, including sabbatical pay. The Academy may make adjustments to its stipends based on other awards held by Rome Prize recipients. Winners may not hold full-time jobs while at the Academy.

Please refer to the eligibility and submission requirements for each field as listed.

The Selection Process
Each year the Academy organizes an open, national competition from its New York City office to select its Rome Prize winners. Jury members, prominent in their disciplines, are drawn from all regions of the country and change annually. The juries convene from January through March, and finalists may be required to come to New York at Academy expense to be interviewed. The Academy’s Board of Trustees announces the winners in late April.

The primary criterion for selection is excellence, as perceived both in achievement and in promise. Jurors consider the quality of submitted application materials and the interviews for what these reveal about past achievement and the potential for future development. A jury may select any candidate it judges to be outstanding in his or her field and at a point in the individual’s career where the Rome Prize experience would be critical to future growth and accomplishment. Since an important aspect of what the Academy offers to Rome Prize winners is exposure to Rome, all other factors being equal, preference will be given to those applicants who have not had extensive prior experience living and studying and/or working in Rome.

How to Apply
A completed application consist of the following materials:

• Completed application form.
• Current résumé or curriculum vitae
• Project proposal as specified for each discipline (see Arts or Humanities)
• A/V and/or written support materials as specified for each discipline (see Arts or Humanities)
• Three letters of reference, which must be enclosed with the application, are required of all applicants except those applying in visual arts
• Application fee, in the form of a check, money order or travelers’ check drawn on a United States bank, made payable to the “American Academy in Rome”. Blank checks, cash, stamps or other forms of payment are not acceptable.

Résumés, support materials and the outside mailing envelopes or cartons must be clearly marked with the applicant’s name and field(s) of application. All materials must be submitted in English, including letters of support. Please note that eligibility and submission requirements differ for each field.
Incomplete applications or materials sent separately will not be considered.

Click here to apply for the 2008 Rome Prize.

Deadline: November 1, 2007
Citizenship: US citizenship required

The Academy does not keep applications on file, and written materials will not be returned. Support material will be returned only if self-addressed, stamped envelopes are included. Applicant is responsible for ensuring that the proper postage is affixed to the correctly-sized return envelope.

Mail application materials to:
American Academy in Rome
att: Programs Department
7 East 60 Street
New York, NY 10022-100
http://www.aarome.org/rome_prize/index.htm