The Foundation will consider proposals from visual artists working in any genre, style, and media that can be classified as Photography, with regards to still images. Proposals for time-based work will not be accepted for this year’s fellowship but may be eligible for 2024-25 fellowships in Emerging Arts.

 In accordance with the fellowship program's overall goal of supporting early mid-career artists, applicants should have a record of exhibitions and demonstrate a promising program of creative development using photography as a mode of creative expression and experimentation. Note that fellowship funds are intended mainly to support time for creative work; they do not underwrite costs of equipment, exhibitions, or publication.

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 artist and scholars of diverse cultural, sexual, and ethnic backgrounds. HF 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.