AAR invites applications for the annual Rome Prize competition!

This full-term fellowship supports a scholar working on the historical intersection of China and the Mediterranean in arts and ideas, with particular attention to comparative research about philosophical worldviews and their cultural expression.

We are interested in projects that explore existential questions that cross cultures and time periods and are relevant to all humanities subjects. Philosophical tenets animate the world around us and are evident in art, architecture, and literature, as well as in the writing of history itself.

Proposed projects should contribute to the history of ideas, to a better understanding of the connections between East and West, and draw on the experience of Rome as a crossroads.

Both predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars are eligible for this fellowship. Preference will be given to the most compelling project that would benefit from time in Rome.

The required application materials include a completed online application form and the following three documents, to be uploaded to your online application as three separate digital files:

1. Current résumé/curriculum vitae. Please include languages read and spoken and level of fluency.

2. Four-page proposal describing the project to be undertaken. Please be sure to address the following points/questions in your proposal:

• How will the proposed project and your own professional development will benefit from a residency within a multidisciplinary community in Rome?
• What guides or motivates your work?
• Rome is a modern city powerfully stamped by the material remains of the past. Is this past important to your present? If so, why?
• What, if any, resources in Rome or Italy will be significant to the completion of your proposed project?
• What kind of workspace do you need in Rome?

Please include bibliographical notes for any sources cited (not counted toward the four-page limit). Your proposal should be double-spaced with 10- to 12-point typeface and one-inch margins.

3. Writing sample. This may be up to twenty pages and should be in the proposed field of study. Please include bibliography and footnotes (not counted toward the page limit).

Also needed are three reference letters from professionals acquainted with you and your work. Recommenders will be asked to submit their letters electronically through our online system.

Finally, you must submit an application fee paid by credit card through our online payment option or by check or money order made payable to American Academy in Rome and mailed to the following address: 

American Academy in Rome
Attention: Tsao Family Rome Prize
535 West 22nd Street, Third Floor
New York, NY 10011

Applicants wishing to be considered in more than one field must complete an online application for each category.

This fall, the American Academy in Rome will host two in-person information sessions about the Rome Prize. The first takes place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Tuesday, September 24. The second will be presented at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence on Tuesday, October 8. 

AAR will also present two general online information sessions on Zoom on September 23 and October 15. A third virtual meeting, focused only on landscape architecture, will happen on October 16.

These information sessions give prospective applicants a general overview of the Rome Prize application process, tips on what makes a successful application, and a look into the experience of living in the American Academy’s unique residential community in Rome.