National Digital Newspaper Program | 20260109 PJ

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20260109 PJ

The National Digital Newspaper Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity run by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), specifically through its Division of Preservation and Access, using a cooperative agreement funding instrument. Its purpose is to expand a nationwide digital collection of historically significant U.S. newspapers, focusing on titles published between 1690 and 1963. The end result of this work is a public-facing research resource: a freely available, searchable online database maintained by the Library of Congress (LOC), which serves as the long-term host and access point for the digitized newspaper content.

Projects funded through this program generally support the identification, selection, and digitization of newspapers that have enduring historical value, with the broader goal of representing all 56 states and U.S. jurisdictions over time. While the opportunity description is brief, the emphasis is clearly on preservation-quality digitization and public access, meaning applicants should expect to follow established technical, metadata, and content delivery standards so the material can be integrated into the LOC-managed platform and used reliably by researchers, educators, students, genealogists, and the general public.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of public and nonprofit institutions that are positioned to steward historical newspaper collections or coordinate statewide and jurisdiction-wide digitization efforts. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in that nonprofit category). The notice indicates that applicants should consult the formal Eligibility section of the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the full requirements and any constraints on who may apply, partnerships, or how jurisdictions are represented.

The opportunity is listed under CFDA number 45.149 and is offered by NEH. The funding opportunity number is 20260109 PJ. NEH expects to make around 10 awards under this round, with an award ceiling of $325,000 per award. The original application closing date is January 15, 2026. Overall, the program is best understood as a national infrastructure effort for cultural heritage: it funds organizations to help convert historically important newspaper runs into durable digital files with strong descriptive information, then delivers them into a centralized LOC platform where the public can search and read them without charge.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities in the humanities sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Digital Newspaper Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.149.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-08-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-01-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $325,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 20260109 PJ

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: