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.
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
San Francisco, California
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
Chapel Hill, N.C.
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. 6, 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: Apr. 15, 2016
The American Prospect Writing Fellowship
Washington, D.C.
The American Prospect’s Writing Fellows Program offers journalists at the beginning of their career the opportunity to spend two full years at the magazine in Washington, D.C., developing their journalistic skills. Each fellow benefits from an intensive mentoring program and is expected to contribute regularly to the website and to the print edition. The fellowship pays a salary of $33,000 a year and includes health, dental, and vision benefits.
Deadline: Apr. 22, 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 2016 DEADLINES
Illuminating Today’s Japan for American Audiences 2016
Three U.S.-based journalists will be selected for 19-day reporting trips in Japan, to be conducted throughout the summer and fall of 2016, in the fourth year of ICFJ’s “Illuminating Today’s Japan for American Audiences” program. The participating journalists will work with an experienced Japanese interpreter and fixer, and are expected to dig into the economic, social, cultural, environmental and energy-policy challenges facing the country.
Deadline: May 1, 2016
Grist Fellowship Program
Seattle, Washington
The Grist Fellowship Program is an opportunity to hone your skills at a national news outlet and deepen your knowledge of environmental issues. We’re looking for early-career journalists with a variety of skills, from traditional reporting to multimedia whizbangery. We will offer exposure to the leading sustainability thinkers and theories of our time, real-world experience at a fast-paced news site, and better-than-average coffee. The fellowship pays $2,600 per month.
Deadline: May 2, 2016
Journalism Fellowship on the Economics of Aging and Work
Chicago, Illinois
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, in partnership with The Associated Press Media Editors (APME) and with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is proud to offer a residential journalism fellowship focused on the economics of aging and work in the United States. During a 10-month fellowship period, the selected journalist will develop the analytical research skills needed to create a series of news reports dealing with the economics of the aging workforce in the United States to be distributed by AP to its global worldwide audience of thousands of subscribers and customers across all media platforms.
Deadline: May 16, 2016
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
Radio Television Digital News Foundation Scholarships & Fellowships
Awards are available to student and new professional journalists for sports reporting, health coverage, national security journalism, and more. RTDNF also offers several awards specifically for journalists of color, including the Ed Bradley and Carole Simpson scholarships for undergraduates and the N.S. Bienstock and Michele Clark fellowships for new professionals. Recipients have gone on enjoy careers from reporter, anchor, and news director to White House speechwriter, media regulatory attorney, and journalism educator. Several have served as RTDNA board members and many are Murrow Award winners.
Deadline: May 31, 2016
The McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism
The McGraw Fellowship provides editorial and financial support to journalists who need the time and resources to produce a significant story or series that provides fresh insight into an important business or economic topic. We accept applications for in-depth text, video or audio pieces, and we encourage proposals that take advantage of more than one storytelling form to create a multimedia package. Typically, we’ll award grants of $5,000 a month for one to three months; in exceptional cases, we’ll consider longer grants based upon specific proposals.
Deadline: May 31, 2016
SUMMER DEADLINES
McCloy Fellowship on Global Trends
The fellowships allow American and German experts from journalism, the public sector, think tanks, nonprofits, law, and cultural organizations to research and assess the most pressing topics on the transatlantic agenda while engaging with their counterparts overseas. The goals of the fellowships are to enhance broader understanding of key policy issues related to global trends while promoting networking across the Atlantic.
Deadline: June 1, 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.
IN PROGRESS OR FUTURE FELLOWSHIPS
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 [email protected].
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.
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 News Lab Fellowships
Various locations
The Google News Lab Fellowship offers students interested in journalism and technology the opportunity to spend the summer working at relevant organizations across the U.S. to gain valuable experience and make lifelong contacts and friends.
Knight-Mozilla Fellowship
Various locations
The Knight-Mozilla Fellowship places creative technologists in newsrooms to work on open-source tools and support reporting that strengthens the web and changes people’s lives. Knight-Mozilla Fellows spend 10 months working with newsroom technology teams to write open-source code, analyze and visualize data, and explore tough problems facing journalism.
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.
Reuters Journalism Fellowship Program
Oxford, UK
This fellowship allows 25 mid-career journalists from around the world to conduct academic research at the University of Oxford.
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 on Twitter @BenDJduck.
