Winners of the prestigious MacArthur genius grant were recently revealed. The list of recipients, which was released this Tuesday, offers recipients some substantial perks, most notably a $100,000 allowance per year for five years.

Most prospective recipients are often left in the dark – candidates for the award are picked without any sort of prior notification. Each winner receives an anonymous call wherein they are asked whether or not they’ve heard about the MacArthur genius grant. If so, they are informed of what’s to come – a nice bank deposit.

The MacArthur genius grant was not designed to simply give talented individuals free money for whatever they wish to spend it one. Rather, they are allotted this money to encourage them to allocate most of their time for their studies, without having to worry over financial issues. Whatever recipients deem appropriate expenditures are appropriate – they can buy a sports car if they wish without any sort of repercussions.

Among the list of MacArthur genius grant recipients this year included Brown archaeologist Stephen Houston, a professor at the Providence-based institution.

The MacArthur genius grant is distributed by the John D. and Catherine T. foundation, and is given to twenty five talented individuals. Grant winners need not repay the foundation the money.

For those that are interested, the homepage for the MacArthur genius grant website is currently unavailable, likely due to an earlier swarm of traffic the site has received. If you would like more information on the MacArthur genius grant, you are encouraged to revisit the website once it becomes available, or to contact the appropriate parties.