The MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Fellowship, or “Genius Grant” is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 40 individuals, working in any field, who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work” and are citizens or residents of the United States. According to the Foundation’s website, “the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential.” The current prize is $625,000 paid over five years in quarterly installments. This figure was increased from $500,000 in 2013 with the release of a review of the MacArthur Fellows Program. , the Program has awarded more than $350 million to 756 recipients as young as 18 and as old as 82. The award has been called “one of the most significant awards that is truly ‘no strings attached.'” The Program allows no applications. An anonymous group nominates potential Fellows and recommends them to an anonymous selection committee of about a dozen people. The committee reviews all nominees and recommends recipients to the President and board of directors. Most new Fellows first learn of their nomination upon receiving a congratulatory phone call. MacArthur Fellow James Collins described this experience in an editorial column of The New York Times.