'Excellence' is said to be the sole criterion in grant decision-making. How excellence is judged by funding organizations is difficult to grasp. This book helps scientists to acquire a grant for basic research from national and international funding organizations. It describes the processes involved and explains the way in which decisions on the giving of grants are made by peer reviewers and field panels or juries. It focuses on the best strategy for applying, supplies information on how to cope with the application form and the way it is handled by the different people involved in the assessment of scientific excellence as well as by the funding organization. The book is based on hundreds of cases in which the authors have been involved over the last ten years.