Francis D. Lyon Graduate Fellowship
Offered by Phi Delta Theta Foundation
About this scholarship
The Phi Delta Theta Foundation’s Francis D. Lyon Graduate Fellowship supports graduate students who share the award’s namesake’s passion for filmmaking and can demonstrate creative talent. Lyon was an Academy Award-winning film editor, director, and producer who endowed the fellowship shortly before his death in 1996. Applicants must be graduate students working in filmmaking. Membership in Phi Delta Theta is not required: the Foundation explicitly opens this fellowship to both members and non-members and does not restrict eligibility by gender. Applicants should be prepared to document graduate enrollment and present work that gives reviewers meaningful evidence of their filmmaking ability and commitment. Applications are managed inside the scholarship section of the myPhiDelt portal. A non-member must claim an account there and may request portal credentials from Phi Delta Theta’s help desk if access is not immediately available. The official graduate-fellowship page lists May 31 as the annual deadline but does not publish a guaranteed Lyon award value or recipient count. Phi Delta Theta reports that its broader current scholarship and fellowship program awards nearly $600,000 annually, with an average award near $1,000, but individual awards differ. This listing therefore reports the Lyon amount as variable rather than repeating an unsupported third-party estimate.
Eligibility
- Be enrolled as a graduate student
- Study filmmaking
- Demonstrate filmmaking talent
- Demonstrate a sustained passion for making films
- Create or claim a myPhiDelt portal account
- Submit the fellowship application and requested evidence by May 31