Deadline: 15-Oct-2025
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has launched its Whiria Te Mahara New Zealand History Grants Program to support historians, researchers and writers with projects that will significantly enhance their understanding of New Zealand’s past.
These grants are for projects that produce print publications, such as books with a wide target readership, rather than academic journal articles. They also consider digital formats like web stories and online exhibitions, provided the funding is for historical research and writing components, not design and development costs. The grants also welcome applications for projects including mātauranga Māori perspectives.
The fund provides between 8 and 12 grants of up to $12,000 each to cover research and writing costs. The funding can be used for expenses related to the researching and writing process. This includes travel costs to visit archives and libraries, a wage for yourself to undertake research or writing, equipment costs like computers, and research costs such as photocopying or buying photographs.
A limited amount of oral history as part of the research is also covered. The grants do not cover costs related to publication or production, such as book editing, design, printing, publicity, or website production. They also do not fund work that has already been completed, collecting or arranging archival material, preparing databases, or fiction, art, or drama projects. If your project is mainly oral history, you should apply to the Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho, New Zealand Oral History Grants.
Any individual or group can apply. International applicants are welcome, though preference may be given to historians based in Aotearoa New Zealand. You are not eligible to apply if you are a tertiary student or staff member completing a project as part of university work, an employee of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, or a previous recipient who has not yet completed a project funded by the Trust.
The application process requires contact information, project details, project costs, and the names of referees who are experts familiar with your topic or can endorse your ability to complete the project. You must also provide an overview, a description of the scope and focus, the research sources you intend to use, a chapter outline, an expected completion date, and information about any interest from publishers.
Applications for 2025 are open from 20 August to 15 October. A committee of senior historians from outside the Ministry will recommend the recipients, and all applicants will be notified of the outcome by early December.
For more information, visit Ministry for Culture and Heritage.