The Foundation will consider proposals from early midcareer authors, scholars, and choreographers working in any genre, style, and media that can be classified as Writing for Performance, with focus in playwriting, monologues, performance poetry, screenplay, and other writing intended for live or recorded performance. Choreographic proposals designed for dance or other stage performance and notation are also eligible. 

In accordance with the fellowship program's overall goal of supporting early mid-career artists and writers, applicants should have a promising record of scholarly accomplishment that includes one major project.

Note that the fellowship funds are intended mainly to support time for the development of  artistic work; they do not underwrite publication, advertising, or promotional costs.

Howard Foundation Fellowships are awarded through a multi-stage review process that begins with successive rounds of screening by expert panels assembled for each year's fields.  Proposals advance through the process based on the collective determination of panelists.  To ensure candid assessment, the identities of reviewers are not public. The proposals that panelists collectively judge to be the strongest under the Foundation's award criteria are forwarded to the Foundation's multi-disciplinary Board of Administration, which makes the final selection.

The Howard Foundation is committed to supporting artists and scholars of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and does not discriminate based on the gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or ability/disability of artists, and welcomes work whose content reflects the lived experiences of the applicants.