Grant Rules and Application

Rules regarding the Michigan Digital Newspaper Grant program

Selection Process

Additional Rules for Applicants

Grant Application

Selection process:

• A committee, selected by the Clarke Historical Library staff, will review all applications and select no more than five for final consideration.
• Applicants selected for final consideration will be notified no later than February 6, 2023.
• Applicants will be asked to encourage members of their community to vote between February 20 and February 28, 2023. Voting will take place electronically via Twitter. 
  • Electronic voting is subject to the following limitations:
  • Electronic votes will only count if they are cast from February 20 to February 28.
  • The Library reserves the right to limit the number of electronic votes accepted per person, social media account, IP address or any other designating factor of the Library's choosing.
  • The Library is not liable in the event a hardware or software failure makes it impossible for votes to be received or counted, or for any other failure on the part of the Library or any third-party vendor making impossible the receipt or counting of electronic votes.

Additional rules for applicants

• Past award winners are prohibited from applying in the year following their award but may apply thereafter.
• The winning applicant will be notified no later than March 7 and agrees to deliver or ship materials to Clarke Historical Library by April 7, 2023.
• By applying, an applicant(s) consents that should they be selected as a finalist, the Clarke Historical Library may post all or part of their application online on a publicly accessible website in order to inform the public about the application. The Library, however, will not post online personally identifiable information regarding the applicant included in the application, including name(s), address(es), or other contact information.
• By applying, the applicant acknowledges that they control or have unrestricted access to, the microfilmed version of the nominated paper(s) or physical copies of the newspaper. The applicant is solely responsible for obtaining the original newspapers, or microfilm, needed for scanning and must allow, or arrange for the allowance of, the use of the original papers or film on the CMU campus for digitization for a period of at least one continuous calendar month (30 days). In the case of original newspapers, if the material is bound, the applicant consents to disbinding the material for filming. Original newspapers that are microfilmed will be returned to the applicant disbound.
• Microfilm supplied by the successful applicant must meet minimum technical standards to ensure adequate scanning. The preferred film from which newspaper scans will be made is second generation negatives (print masters). The Clarke Historical Library reserves the right to abandon the successful applicant's project if, in the Clarke Historical Library's sole opinion, the film supplied by the successful applicant is inadequate for the creation of digital copies/OCR conversion or the original newspapers supplied cannot be successfully microfilmed.
• Scanning standards, choice of online delivery platform, and all other technical features of the scanning project will be determined at the sole discretion of the Clarke Historical Library. Microfilming standards, if applicable, will also be determined at the sole discretion of the Clarke Historical Library.
• Scanning and making of the newspaper title available online must take place in a way consistent with all applicable provisions of U.S. Copyright law. Obtaining any necessary copyright permission is the sole responsibility of the applicant. The Clarke Historical Library, at its sole discretion, may decline to undertake any project if it believes to do so would place the Library in violation of copyright law.
• After 90 days of being informed of winning, should the winning applicant be unable to meet, or show the reasonable capacity to meet, any of the above terms, the Clarke Historical Library reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to withdraw the award and present it to another applicant.