Since 1981 the MacArthur Foundation has awarded fellowships with a strange rule. You cannot apply. Nobody knows who nominated you. The news arrives as a surprise phone call.
The foundation gives 20 to 30 awards a year. The program was created, in its own words, “to foster continued innovation by removing financial impediments.”
The famous name is not the foundation’s. “Genius grant” was coined by the news media in 1981. The lone-genius label was applied by reporters.