“It’s a great kind of financial security for my family,” Mr. Ward said. “I hope to keep doing the kind of work I am doing and maybe find some ways to do some experimentation of other ways to do local journalism.”

One hitch for grantees is that they can tell only one person before the winners are announced. Sarah T. Stewart, a planetary scientist at the University of California-Davis, could tell only her husband, she said, even though she found out about the award a month ago, something she called “a form of torture.” Dr. Stewart studies planet formation, with a focus on planetary collisions — a key process in the growth and evolution of planets.

Through her labwork and modeling, Dr. Stewart, 45, has been able to increase understanding about Earth’s origin, and has proposed a new theory on how the moon was formed: It is the result of a synestia, a cloud of vaporized and molten rock produced when two objects collide at high velocity. Under Dr. Stewart’s theory, both the Earth and the Moon formed from the same synestia, which would explain why both share similar characteristics. She wasn’t quite sure what she would do with her $625,000.

“My personal goal is to do something new,” Dr. Stewart said. “I don’t want to do what I’m doing now because other agencies are already funding that. I’m thinking of it as an opportunity to do something creative and exactly what that is, I do not know. There may be some philanthropy involved but it will just not be the same.”

Livia S. Eberlin, who has been an analytical chemist at the University of Texas-Austin for almost three years, was sitting in her office expecting a call from someone else when the foundation called.