Davidson Fellows Scholarships

Scholarship Sponsored by Davidson Institute

Overview
We offer three Davidson Fellows scholarships—$100,000, $50,000 and $25,000—to exceptionally talented, high‑achieving students age 18 or younger who have completed a substantial, original piece of work.

Eligibility
- Applicants must be 18 years old or younger.
- The submission must be a significant piece of work produced by the applicant.
- Community service projects are not eligible.
- Proposals that merely describe a future college major or occupation are not eligible.
- Each student may submit only one project. If you plan to apply as a two‑person team, you must email DavidsonFellows@DavidsonGifted.org before beginning the application.

2026 Application timeline and deadline
- The 2026 application is open now and will close on February 11, 2026.
- All application materials must be received by February 11, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

How to apply — two‑part process
1) Initial portion (submit as soon as possible)
- The application begins with a brief description of your project/portfolio to confirm eligibility. Submit this initial portion right away; the sooner it’s submitted, the sooner it can be reviewed and approved, giving you and your nominators more time to finish the rest of the application.
- After you submit the initial portion it will be held for review (typically 1–2 business days). When it is approved, you will receive an email notifying you that you may proceed to part two.

2) Part two — nominators, parent approval, and category requirements
- In part two you will enter contact details for your nominator(s) and send them the required nominating forms. Carefully review the SAMPLE Nominating Form (PDF) so you can select nominators who can best support your submission.
- You must also provide a parent’s contact information and send the parent approval form(s). Only one parent approval form is required per applicant; for team submissions, one parent form is required for each team member.
- Upload and submit all other category-specific materials during this stage.

Files and format restrictions
- Google product file types are not accepted (this includes Google Docs and Google-hosted videos). Submit files in accepted formats as described on the How to Apply page.

Intellectual property, confidentiality, and publication
- All intellectual property included in your application remains the property of the applicant.
- Application content is shared only with Davidson Fellows staff and the judging panel; judges sign confidentiality agreements. Application materials are never posted on the Davidson Fellows website. Any biographical or project descriptions that appear on the Davidson Fellows site are provided and written by winners themselves.

Evaluation and notification
- Submissions are checked for completeness and accuracy. Eligible entries are grouped by category and reviewed by an independent panel of judges with relevant expertise. The judges may, at their discretion, consult outside experts to assist in evaluation.
- All work must be the applicant’s own. Any verbatim use or paraphrasing of others’ work must be acknowledged. Submissions are screened using plagiarism detection and AI‑generated text detection tools.
- The judges determine which applicants will be named Davidson Fellows and award recipients of the $100,000, $50,000 or $25,000 scholarships.

Additional resources
- A tips video is available online to help applicants.
- After you have reviewed the How to Apply page and your category requirements, submit your application online.