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.
FEATURED FELLOWSHIP
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
ROLLING DEADLINES
Holly Whisenhunt Stephen Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Send broadcast and/or radio journalists to IRE’s weeklong Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. The fellowships were established by IRE and WTHR-Indianapolis to honor Stephen, an award-winning journalist and longtime IRE member who died in Nov. 2008 after a long battle with cancer.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.
Ottaway Fellowships, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to IRE’s weeklong Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.
R-CAR Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
The Fund for Rural Computer-Assisted Reporting helps a journalist from a news organization in a rural area attend one of IRE’s week-long CAR boot camps. It was established by IRE member Daniel Gilbert to give rural reporters skills that will help them uncover stories that otherwise would not come to light. The fellowship is offered in conjunction with The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.
FEBRUARY 2016 DEADLINES
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
2016 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists
The University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting, a global leader in providing science training for journalists, is accepting applications for its competitive 18th Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists: Global Change in Coastal Ecosystems, June 5-12, 2016. The workshop will be held at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, one of the nation’s premier oceanographic research institutions and home to Metcalf Institute. Ten early- to mid-career journalists will be selected for the fellowship, which includes tuition, travel support, room and board, and career-changing professional training.
Deadline: Feb. 5, 2016
Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship
The Fellowship funds a one-year writing project focusing on American culture and free society. Separate fellowships also focus on environment, free enterprise and law enforcement. Full-time fellows will receive $50,000, and part-time fellows will receive $25,000. A journalistic project funded under this program should be original and publishable. It will be delivered in four quarterly installments with the potential to be published sequentially in a periodical publication or all together as a book. In addition to the funds set aside to reimburse the Fellow’s expenses — $10,000 for a full-time fellowship and $5,000 for a part-time fellowship — the fellowship grant will be paid in four increments to correspond with completion of the quarterly writing installments.
Deadline: Feb. 5, 2016
Asia Journalism Fellowship
The Asia Journalism Fellowship is an initiative of Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It brings journalists from across Asia to NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for three months of learning and exchange. Away from the deadline pressures of their jobs, Fellows pursue their intellectual interests in one of Asia’s leading universities. The semi-structured program is designed to sharpen professional skills and deepen understanding of trends in media and communication. It also provides access to key newsmakers in Singapore’s public sector, business community and civil society, offering insights into the challenges faced by one of Asia’s most cosmopolitan hub cities.
Deadline: Feb. 14, 2016
World Press Institute Fellowship
Various
The WPI fellowship is offered to 10 journalists from countries around the world. It provides immersion into the governance, politics, business, media, journalistic ethics and culture of the United States for experienced international journalists, through a demanding schedule of study, travel and interviews throughout the country. The program begins in mid-August and ends in mid-October. The fellows will spend three weeks in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, and then travel to several U.S. cities, including New York and Washington, D.C., for briefings, interviews and visits. They will return to Minnesota for the final week of the program.
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2016
2017 New America Foundation Fellowship
Various
New America’s Fellows Program invests in thinkers — academics, journalists, independent scholars, and public policy analysts — who offer fresh and often unconventional perspectives on the major challenges facing our society. Fellows advance big ideas through research, reporting, analysis, and/or storytelling. The big idea can be a sweeping reframing of a familiar subject through new research or a new combination of existing research; a masterful presentation of a case study that advances our understanding of a timeless American theme or stress fracture; an innovative new media or academic project to disseminate knowledge about a shared challenge; or a bold policy prescription for moving domestic and international issues forward. Our goal in the Fellows Program is to find bold, iconoclastic thinkers and to fund them for one to two years, long enough so that they can write a book, develop a series of articles, make a documentary, or work on another project that would be accessible to a broad audience and long enough to be able to build a real community among the fellows.
Deadline: Feb. 15, 2016
Fellowship in Global Journalism
Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto
This fellowship recruits 20 fellows from around the world with subject-matter expertise to become leading global correspondents. Participants receive mentoring from professional journalists while freelancing for major media outlets and attending journalism courses and lectures. They will continue to receive free coaching for two years after graduating in April 2017.
Deadline: Feb. 19, 2016
Princeton University Summer Journalism Program 2016
Princeton University
PUSJP is one of the country’s most innovative and successful programs working to provide opportunities to outstanding high school students from low-income backgrounds. We welcome about 25 high school students from low-income backgrounds every summer to Princeton’s campus for an all-expenses-paid, intensive 10-day seminar on journalism. After the program ends, counselors stay in touch with students to help guide them through the college admissions process. The program’s goal is to diversify college and professional newsrooms by encouraging outstanding students from low-income backgrounds to pursue careers in journalism. All expenses, including students’ travel costs to and from Princeton, are paid for by the program. Students who attend come from across the country. The program will enter its 15th summer in 2016. It will take place from August 5 to August 15.
Deadline: Feb. 26, 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
Knight Science Journalism Fellowship
Midcareer journalists covering science, technology, the environment or medicine can apply for a fellowship at MIT. The Knight Science Journalism Fellowships host international and U.S. journalists for a nine months of personalized study, auditing courses at MIT and Harvard, attending lectures and interviewing faculty members. Fellows receive a US $70,000 stipend plus tuition. Additional benefits include health insurance, research trip stipends, conference stipends and access to MIT and Harvard resources.Applicants must have English proficiency and at least three years of experience as reporters, writers, editors, producers, illustrators or photojournalists. They may work for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the web.
Deadline: Feb. 29, 2016
MARCH 2016 DEADLINES
Knight-Bagehot Fellowship
Columbia Journalism School
This year-long fellowship for business and finance journalists allows participants to strengthen their knowledge of business, economics and finance. Fellows receive free tuition to take courses at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, business, law and international affairs, as well as a receive a $55,000 stipend.
Deadline: Mar. 1, 2016
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: Mar. 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: Mar. 1, 2016
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
High Country News Fellowship
High Country News is looking for informed and enthusiastic editorial fellows to report on natural resource, environmental and community issues in the 11 Western states. High Country News, published twice-monthly in Paonia, Colorado, is a nonprofit newsmagazine and website “for people who care about the West.” The magazine reaches 25,000 subscribers — an estimated 60,000 readers — and the website reaches thousands more, including grassroots activists, public land managers, tribal officials, government policymakers, educators, students and interested citizens.
Deadline: March 15, 2016
APRIL 2016 DEADLINES
Freelance Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Awards of $1,000 or more are available to assist in conducting investigative projects. These fellowships for journalists who make their living primarily as freelancers were created in 2008.
Deadline: Apr. 1, 2016
Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program
The Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program offers a crash course in investigative journalism. It also supports emerging journalists and media professionals, allowing them to make invaluable contributions to a high-flying news organization. Mother Jones fellows dive deep into every aspect of a national multimedia outfit—from the making of news to making it pretty, ensuring its impact and mastering the inner workings of nonprofit publishing.
Deadline: Apr. 1, 2016
Business Journalism Boot Camp
This five-day residential workshop (May 22-26, 2016) will include instructional sessions on covering companies, interviewing CEOs and finding information on companies and the economy. College students with an interest in business journalism or a business journalism internship for Summer 2016 are encouraged to apply. Students will be housed on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus.
Deadline: Apr. 1, 2016
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
impactAFRICA Grants
We offer $500,000 in support for pioneering data journalism and innovative reporting that tackles development issues, such as public healthcare, in six African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Our support goes beyond cash. We also provide technology assistance from our civic labs in all six countries, as well as one-on-one editorial mentoring, digital skills training, and content syndication services. The initiative is intended to spur newsroom experimentation and innovative storytelling, while also encouraging more evidence-based public discourse.
Deadline: April 15, 2016
James Richard Bennett Scholarships, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Sends a limited number of college students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma or Louisiana to attend the annual IRE conference. The scholarships are made possible by a donation to IRE by Dr. James R. Bennett, professor emeritus of English, University of Arkansas.
Deadline: Apr. 24, 2016
David Dietz Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Sends journalists with less than 10 years’ professional experience and a demonstrated interest in financial investigative journalism to the annual IRE Conference. In honor of Dave’s commitment to mentoring younger journalists, the winner of the fellowship will also be enrolled in IRE’s mentorship program and will be paired with a top investigative journalist in the field of financial journalism for a year-long mentorship that will begin at the IRE Conference.
Deadline: Apr. 24, 2016
Diversity Fellowships, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Established by the Philip L. Graham Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to attend IRE’s conferences. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: Apr. 24, 2016
Jennifer Leonard Scholarship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
This scholarship sends women of modest means who are college students studying journalism or professional journalists with three or fewer years of working experience to IRE’s conferences. The scholarships were established by IRE member David Cay Johnston to honor his wife, the president of the Rochester Area Community Foundation and a national leader in promoting ethical standards for endowments. Learn more about Leonard and the scholarships. Click here to learn more.
Deadline: Apr. 24, 2016
Godfrey Wells Stancill Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Help a limited number of journalists working for newspapers with Sunday circulation under 50,000 attend IRE’s annual conference. These fellowships were established by IRE board member Nancy Stancill and her family to honor the memory of her father, Godfrey Wells Stancill, former editor and publisher of the Suffolk (Va.) News-Herald. Click here to learn more.
Deadline: Apr. 24, 2016
MAY 2015 DEADLINES
Post-Graduate Investigative Reporting Fellows, University of California Berkeley
To help develop a new generation of investigative reporters in an era of cutbacks at major news organizations, the Investigative Reporting Program at the Graduate School of Journalism is hiring 2 to 3 fellows in investigative reporting. This is a one-year academic appointment expected to begin on August 29, 2014. Fellows will, under general supervision, conduct research, manage data; write, edit, fact-check and produce project(s). Fellows will be required to submit monthly status reports. In addition to regular interaction with the faculty of the journalism school and the instructors in investigative reporting, the fellows will participate in a weekly seminar in investigative reporting taught by Lowell Bergman and Tim McGirk.
Deadline: May 19, 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.
Asia Pacific Journalism Fellowships
The Asia Pacific Journalism Fellowships (APJF) program was initiated in 1998 for the purpose of strengthening understanding between Asia and the United States through study, dialogue and field study in the Asia Pacific for American journalists. Each program offers opportunities for six to eight senior American broadcast, print, and online journalists to participate. 2016 Program pending.
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 2016 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.
China-United States Journalist Exchange
Various
For Chinese and American journalists. Chinese journalists travel to three cities in the United States; American journalists travel to three cities in China. After their study tours, all journalists meet for dialogue to conclude the program. Program dates: September 2016 (exact dates TBD).
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.
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.
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.
Korea-United States Journalist Exchange
Various
For Korean and American journalists. Korean journalists travel to three cities in the United States; American journalists travel to three cities in South Korea. 2016 program pending.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. Presidential Election Reporting Seminar
For mid-career journalists; study tour to report before, during and after the U.S. presidential election from key states in the American electoral system. Program dates: November 1-13, 2016. Application releases early 2016.
Ben DeJarnette is the associate editor at MediaShift. He is also a freelance contributor for Pacific Standard, InvestigateWest, Men’s Journal, Runner’s World, Oregon Quarterly and others. He’s onTwitter @BenDJduck.