Here’s a list of current media and journalism fellowship programs, including the deadlines for applying. If we’re missing any major programs, or you would like your program to be in the featured fellowship slot, please contact Mark Glaser at mark [at] mediashift [dot] org to let us know, and we’ll add them to the list. All featured fellowships are paid promotional slots.
DECEMBER 2015 DEADLINES
ProPublica Reporting Fellowship
We are looking for a reporting fellow to work in our newsroom. The fellowship is a minimum of 16 weeks and can last for up to a year. We’re ready for you to start as soon as you’re available. It’s full-time, based in New York, and compensation is $700 per week. Fellows primarily report their own stories —like this one — but also collaborate with ProPublica’s reporters on big projects. We’re looking for somebody who has done reporting, and loves doing it.
Fall Deadline: No deadline set, apply ASAP
NPR Kroc Fellowship
The NPR Kroc Fellowship identifies and develops a new generation of extraordinary public radio journalists. Over the course of a year, the three Kroc Fellows get rigorous, hands-on training in every aspect of public radio journalism, both on-air and online, including writing, reporting, producing and editing. The Fellowship begins in August and lasts one year. Fellows receive a stipend of more than $40,000 and benefits, including paid vacation. NPR will provide Kroc Fellows with professional guidance and assist in job placement.
Deadline: Dec. 31, 2015
Bridges Fellowship
Bay Area Video Coalition’s Bridges Fellowship asks, “What can young adults learn from media arts professionals that can help them make a positive impact on their lives, their careers, and their communities?” Participants, ages 18-26, investigate how artists and start-up innovators alike make their living as successful tech and media entrepreneurs, while exploring connections between media-making and social justice. Applicants must be low-income, and between the ages of 18-26, and reside in the Bay Area. Priority will be given to individuals with barriers to employment. Applicants must be able to commit to all program components and dates. Applicants must possess a drive to excel in their respective field of media arts and tech, and be committed to social justice.
Deadline Information: Applications for 2016 will be available December 2015.
JANUARY 2016 DEADLINES
FASPE Summer Ethics Fellowship in Journalism
FASPE Journalism uses the conduct of reporters and other media professionals during the Holocaust and in Nazi Germany as a launching point for an intensive course of study on contemporary journalism ethics. FASPE is predicated upon the power of place. Fellows visit Auschwitz and other sites in Germany and Poland where they consider how to apply the lessons of history to the ethical challenges of their profession today.
Deadline: Jan. 5, 2016
Multimedia Skills Building for Georgian Journalists
Eighteen journalists will be selected for this two-pronged program, which will include a 16-day study tour to four U.S. cities where participants will attend training sessions, meetings and site visits that will expose them to cutting-edge digital tools, skills and methods. The program will begin with an orientation in Washington, D.C. and continue to Silicon Valley; Austin, Texas and New York City. English language skills are desirable but are not required. Interpretation and translation will be provided for non-English speakers. Following the study tour, participants will return to Georgia, where they will receive two months of online mentoring from seasoned digital journalists who will help participants apply their newly acquired skills in their newsrooms at home. Mentors will guide the participants as they work on content production, audience engagement and innovative business models.
Deadline: Jan. 8, 2016
Witness Media Lab Curation Fellowship
The WITNESS Media Lab Curation Fellowship is designed to give a promising journalist, activist, or documentarian the opportunity to conduct innovative human rights reporting and advocacy by bridging citizen footage with human rights methodology. The fellow will conduct research and compile a report on a human rights story primarily using eyewitness video (often called “citizen journalism” or “user-generated content”). The report will be shared on lab.witness.org and potentially by media or advocacy partners. The fellow will also document the process and share challenges, strategies, and learnings on the WITNESS Media Lab blog. Finally, the fellow will work to engage with target audiences around the report, its findings, and its methodology.
Deadline: Jan. 8, 2016
A Digital Path to Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Latin America
Path to Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Latin America program has been reopened for applicants from Honduras and Nicaragua only. This 18-month, multi-phase program is for 28 Latin American professional fellows and 10 of their U.S. counterparts. ICFJ and its selected partner organizations in each country will recruit professional and citizen journalists, media business managers, digital entrepreneurs and technologists to create media business models that harness the power of digital tools to generate sustainable new revenue. Applicants must be fluent in English. The selected Latin American fellows will complete a month-long program in the United States which begins with an orientation at ICFJ’s headquarters. Each fellow will then participate in a three-week internship at carefully selected U.S. institutions.
Deadline: Jan. 10, 2016
Hearst Journalism Fellowship
If you have the skills, passion and determination to be a journalist of the future — a trained professional who knows a good story and who has the talent and confidence to tell it in a way that best imparts its relevance and importance to news consumers — the Hearst Fellowship might be perfect for you. This is the premier two-year newspaper fellowship in the country. Our goal is to recruit, train and retain the best of the next generation of journalists — top-notch multi-media professionals with a broad range of skills. The program consists of two 12-month rotations at our top metro papers and websites. Fellows are full-fledged journalists expected to make significant, valuable contributions in a variety of roles and platforms.
Deadline: Jan. 11, 2016
Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship for Innovation in Journalism
The Gazette has created the fellowship to promote experimentation and to cultivate the use of multimedia journalism techniques in a traditional newsroom setting. The successful fellow will have professional journalism experience and demonstrated audio, video and/or digital production skills. We are seeking a mature, multimedia journalist with the ability and desire to work as part of a newsroom team, to share knowledge and to produce compelling news packages.
Deadline: Jan. 15, 2016
Bringing Home the World: International Reporting Fellowship for Minority Journalists
The Bringing Home the World Fellowship helps U.S.-based minority journalists cover compelling yet under-reported international stories, increasing the diversity of voices in global news. The program helps level the playing field and redress the inequality minority journalists often face by giving them the opportunity to report from overseas and advance their careers. Applications are now open.
Deadline: Jan. 25, 2016
FEBRUARY 2016 DEADLINES
Community Stories Grant
The Community Stories program funds projects that focus on the collection and sharing of real stories of California’s communities. Projects must involve at least one humanities expert as an advisor, use the methods of analysis that inform the humanities as well as community-based research, and produce work that is publicly accessible. Application eligibility is limited to California-based nonprofit organizations or local/state public agencies or institutions. Grant awards range up to $10,000 and a cash or in-kind match is required. There are two yearly rounds of open applications for Community Stories.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016
Arthur F. Burns Fellowship
Each year, outstanding media professionals from the United States, Canada and Germany are awarded an opportunity to report from and travel in each other’s countries as part of The Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program. The program offers young journalists, age 40 and under, the opportunity to share professional expertise with their colleagues across the Atlantic while working as “foreign correspondents” for their hometown news organizations. U.S. and Canadian applications are due March 1, 2016, German applications due on February 1, 2016.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016/Mar. 1, 2016
O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Backed by the resources of Marquette University and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, O’Brien Fellows will spend nine months researching, reporting and writing the stories they care most deeply about — stories with the potential to change policies and improve lives. This fully funded fellowship allows newsroom professionals to do the best work of their careers on issues of vital importance while they also mentor the next generation of journalists.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016
Fund for Investigative Journalism
The Fund for Investigative Journalism’s Board of Directors meets three to four times each year to consider grant applications for investigative projects and books. The deadlines for 2016 are Monday February 1, Monday May 16, and Monday September 26 – all at 5pm ET. The board of directors looks for stories that brean new ground and expose wrongdoing — such as corruption, malfeasance, or misuse of power — in the public and private sectors.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016
Joan Shorenstein Fellowship
Cambridge, MA
The fellowship brings journalists, policymakers and scholars together to the Harvard Kennedy School to advance research in media, politics and public policy.
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016
Journalist Law School
The challenge of reporting on the legal system without a law degree is daunting. To help support journalists who cover the courts on national, regional or local levels, the Civil Justice Program at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, has developed the journalist law program consisting of a four-day intensive seminar on the legal system. Lectures, lodging and most meals are covered by the program. View the program overview or the 2016 JLS brochure for further details. The 11th-Annual Journalist Law School fellowship will be held June 8-11, 2016.
Deadline: Feb. 4, 2016
RJI Residential Fellow
Missouri School of Journalism
Designed for persons inside and outside media industries who want to collaborate with RJI in the pursuit of solutions to a particular journalism problem. Residential fellows spend eight months on campus at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, taking advantage of the intellectual and technological resources of RJI and the school and interacting with Missouri faculty and students. Some examples include: access to programmers and app developers, financial support to conduct market research and hiring students to produce multi-media content. Solutions, in the form of strategies, products or services, developed from these ideas would be shared with many news and news-related organizations. You must reside in Columbia for the duration of this fellowship.
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2016
RJI Non-Residential Fellow
Various
Designed for entrepreneurial individuals with a strong interest in journalism and issues related to digital communications. Your fellowship can be about something you are interested in pursuing on your own or something that could benefit a current employer. Successful ideas, products or strategies should serve as a model for the news industry or help the industry get smarter, faster, nimbler. You do not need to live in Columbia, Missouri, but will need to make occasional visits to consult with RJI leadership and staff.
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2016
RJI Institutional Fellows
Various
Designed to unlock some of the thoughtful, meaningful ideas inside newsrooms, ad departments, boardrooms, break rooms, etc., that for various reasons can’t get any traction. RJI will collaborate with a leader at a company or institution who will identify an employee who can develop an idea or lead a team that could do it. The employee will be named an RJI Fellow but will continue working at his or her job. The stipend for this fellowship will be paid to the company or institution to be used for salary relief for the fellow, or for another purpose that the company or institution determines will best ensure the success of the fellowship project.
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2016
Spotlight Investigative Journalism Fellowship
Open Road Films and Participant Media, with support from First Look Media, are sponsoring a fellowship of up to $100,000 to be awarded by The Boston Globe for one or more individuals or teams of journalists to work on in-depth research and reporting projects. The chosen journalist(s) will collaborate with established investigative reporters and editors from The Boston Globe’sPulitzer Prize-winning Spotlight Team.
Deadline: Feb. 29, 2016
IN PROGRESS OR FUTURE FELLOWSHIPS
Alexia Foundation Grant Program
Various locations
The Alexia Foundation provides grants of $25,000 to students, professionals and women for a serious documentary photographic projects. Deadlines for this year are closed.
Associated Press Global News Internship Program
Various locations
This paid internship program is for students who are aspiring cross-format journalists and will contribute to AP’s text, video, photo and interactive reporting. The application period for the 2015 internship is closed. Questions may be emailed to internship@ap.org.
Bay Area Video Coalition Mediamaker Fellowship
San Francisco, CA
The fellowship selects fellows for a 10-month program that supports project development with professional mentorship in multiplatform and transmedia storytelling through emerging technologies and strategic marketing.
Data & Society Fellow
New York City
The fellowship brings together researchers, entrepreneurs, activists, policy creators, journalists and public intellectuals who are interested in engaging one another on the key issues introduced by the increasing availability of data in society.
Donald W. Reynolds Fellowships
Columbia, MO or remote
The fellowship offers an annual program for individuals to develop innovative ideas within journalism and to help build the public’s knowledge in these areas.
Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship
New York City
The fellowship offers one fellow a nine-month period of writing, reporting and providing analysis on newsworthy international events at the Council on Foreign Relations headquarters. Interested candidates who meet the program’s eligibility requirements can apply online between January 1 and March 1 on an annual basis.
Fellowship in Professional Journalism for Morning News Journalists
Dallas, TX
The fellow will contribute to the student-generated news website at the University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication as well as teach a course in her own expertise.
Fulbright Journalism & Communications Grants
Fulbright offers opportunities in Germany, Ireland, Spain and Taiwan. The timeline for this year is now closed but will start again in the early spring.
Google Journalism Fellowships
Various locations
The fellowship is for undergraduate, graduate and journalism students interested in using technology to tell stories in new and dynamic ways at various organizations.
Innovation in Development Reporting Grant Programme (IDR)
The Innovation in Development Reporting Grant Programme (IDR) is a media-funding project operated by the European Journalism Centre (EJC). The grant programme aims to advance creative reporting approaches, thus enabling a better coverage of international development issues. The grant intends to raise awareness about these issues by enabling the production of stories that have a strong impact on media audiences in the following nine European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Deadline: Mar. 2, 2016
International Reporting Fellowship for Minority Journalists
Various locations
This short-term program allows journalists of color the chance to travel overseas to report on and publish stories about underreported issues of interest to their communities.
Knight-Mozilla Fellowship
Various locations
Fellows spend 10 months embedded with partner newsrooms, such as the New York Times and ProPublica. Fellows are developers, technologists, civic hackers and data crunchers who work with the community inside and outside of their newsroom to develop open-source projects.
Knight Science Journalism Fellowship
Cambridge, MA
The nine-month Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT aims to increase mid-career journalists’ understanding of science, technology, medicine and environment by working with scientists and policy makers.
Knight-Wallace Fellowship
Ann Arbor, MI
The Knight-Wallace Fellowship brings journalists to the University of Michigan to bridge academia together with journalism.
Kyoto Prize Journalism Fellowship
San Diego, CA
The Kyoto Prize Journalism Fellowship at Point Loma Nazarene University is an initiative to develop modern education in the sciences, philosophy, society and the arts.
Meredith-Cronkite Fellowship
Phoenix, AZ
The week-long multimedia fellowship program sponsored by the Meredith Corporation and its Phoenix television station, KPHO CBS 5, offers broadcast journalism students from underrepresented groups a week of hands-on experience.
Metpro Tribune
Los Angeles or Chicago
Metpro helps beginning journalists launch careers and boost diversity in Tribune newsrooms.
MJ Bear Fellowship
Through the Online News Association, the MJ Bear Fellowships identify and celebrate early-career digital journalists who have demonstrated that they deserve support for their efforts.
Munk School of Global Affairs Global Journalism Fellowship
Toronto, Canada
This fellowship awards 20 fellows the chance to work at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs for media around the world in various platforms from broadcast to online.
National Geographic Photography Fellowship
Various locations
The two-year fellowship allows photographers to share their visual expertise with diverse areas of the National Geographic Society and with the public, producing stories, sharing their storytelling knowledge with other explorers, and bringing the Society’s mission to illuminate, teach, and inspire the world at large.
Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme
Oxford, UK
This fellowship allows 25 mid-career journalists from around the world to conduct academic research in Oxford for various months in the academic year.
Santa Fe Institute’s Journalism Fellowship In Complex Systems
Santa Fe, NM
The fellowship is for veteran journalists interested in exploring complex systems science more deeply and understanding the issues underlying current scientific debates in many scientific fields. The 2015 application period for this fellowship is postponed.
Scripps Howard Foundation Multimedia Fellowship
Washington DC
This year-long fellowship allows post-graduates to create multimedia projects for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire’s website as well as mentor undergraduate students. Next year’s application deadline is in April, applications open in December.
The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
Atlanta, GA
The one-year fellowship is offered to six journalists and is designed to enhance public understanding of mental health issues and combat stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness.
Deadline: Apr. 13, 2016
World Press Institute Fellowship
Various locations
The fellowship is offered to 10 journalists from around the world and provides immersion into governance, politics, business, media, journalistic ethics and culture of the United States.
Sonia Paul is a freelance journalist reporting in India and the United States, and is the editorial assistant at MediaShift. Her work has appeared in a broad range of media, including the Al Jazeera Media Network, Caravan, Foreign Policy, Guardian, Mashable, New York Times, PRI’s The World, Roads & Kingdoms and VICE News. She previously produced the grant-funded podcast series Shizuoka Speaks, based in Japan. She is on Twitter and Instagram @sonipaul.