In 2024, the Fellows team transitioned to a nomination-based application process, where only individuals who have been nominated by someone in their existing network are eligible to apply. The Fellows team made this change to create a more equitable and thoughtful approach to identifying global leaders, drawing on a diverse group of nominators who are deeply familiar with the regions and fields in which they work.
The nominator pool is broad and far-reaching, including all 500+ members of the TED Fellows community, as well as global friends of the program who actively seek out the changemakers they aim to support.
We know this shift may feel disappointing to those eager to apply directly. If your work aligns with the Fellowship’s mission, we encourage you to continue sharing it publicly -- you never know who might take notice.
As an alternative, we welcome you to submit an idea for a talk directly to the TED curation team, through our speaker nomination process:
http://speaker-nominations.ted.com/
A few things to know about speaker nominations:
- The curators work on filling all conference programs throughout the year (so there is no deadline).
- Once submitted, your nomination will remain in a speaker database to be considered for all future TED events.
- Selection is based not just on the individual merit of a nominee, but also on how their idea fits within a particular conference's theme and overall program.
- For these reasons, and the sheer volume of submissions our curators receive (25,000+ a year), they're unable to respond with a status at any point or let you know if your submission will be a likely fit.
Learn more about speaking at TED:
https://www.ted.com/about/conferences/speaking-at-ted