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 let us know by contacting Mark Glaser at mark [at] mediashift [dot] org and we’ll add them to the list. All featured fellowships are paid promotional slots. Fellowship descriptions are excerpts, edited for length and clarity.
OCTOBER 2016 & BEYOND DEADLINES
New York Times Summer Internships
New York City
The New York Times offers 10-week summer internships to undergraduate and graduate college students who have decided on careers in journalism. Some internships are limited to seniors or graduate students; others also accept juniors. The program provides a summer of demanding work and high journalistic standards, with individual internships in reporting, in visual and interactive journalism and in video, and it offers copy-editing internships with placement by the Dow Jones News Fund.
Deadline: Oct. 31, 2016
Kiplinger Fellowships
Columbus, Ohio
Kiplinger Fellows typically spend a week in April on Ohio State’s main campus in Columbus, where they receive cutting-edge training on digital tools and tactics from leading industry experts. Topics include social media for reporting, branding and audience engagement; spreadsheets and data visualization; smartphone videography; and media ethics. The highly coveted fellowships provide lodging, most meals and free training – thanks to the generosity of the Kiplinger Foundation and Kiplinger family.
Deadline: Oct. 31, 2016
High Country News Fellowship
Paonia, Colorado
High Country News is looking for informed and enthusiastic editorial interns and 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: Nov. 1, 2016
Grist Fellowship Program – Editorial, Video, and Justice Fellowships
Seattle (or remote, if applying for justice fellowship)
The Grist Fellowship Program is an opportunity to hone your skills at a national news outlet and deepen your understanding 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 the occasional “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” debate. We are an independent nonprofit media organization that shapes the country’s environmental conversations, making green second nature for our monthly audience of 2.5 million and growing. At Grist, green isn’t about hugging trees or hiking — it’s about using humor and straight talk to connect big issues like climate change to real people and how they live, work, and play.
Deadline: Nov. 8, 2016
Wall Street Journal Graphics Internship
New York City
The Wall Street Journal is seeking a data visualization intern for its Graphics team based in New York City. The Graphics team creates visual journalism in a number of ways, but we mostly focus on data visualization for print and online. This is a paid summer internship. The summer internship is 10 weeks long and generally starts in June, though the start date can be flexible in certain circumstances.
Deadline: Dec. 1, 2016
Roy H. Park Fellowships
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The University of North Carolina School of Media and Journalism awards seven or eight new doctoral students and seven or eight incoming residential master’s students with Park Fellowships. All Park Fellows work as graduate assistants 15 hours per week. Assignments vary according to the needs of the school and faculty, and the interests and skill levels of the students. Due to the work requirement of the fellowships and the academic demands of the program, Park Fellows may not work outside the school during the academic year without approval from the associate dean for graduate studies prior to the employment. Roy H. Park Fellowships are available only to U.S. citizens. There is no special application; all qualified applicants will be considered for Park Fellowships.
Deadline: Dec. 13, 2016
Investigative Reporters and Editors Diversity Fellowships
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: Jan. 1, 2017, for the CAR Conference; Apr. 23, 2017, for the IRE Conference
ROLLING DEADLINES
Outside Editorial Fellowship
The fellowship is a six-month, paid position in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Duties include fact-checking, reporting, research, proofreading, and assorted support chores for the editorial department. Fellows occasionally have the opportunity to write short pieces for the magazine and website, and they will attend editorial meetings, work closely with top editors, and gain hands-on experience at an award-winning magazine.
Deadline: Rolling
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
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.
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.
Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift. Her work has been published in newspapers throughout the country. She was a recipient of the 2011 Scripps Howard Foundation’s Semester in Washington Fellowship and won the 2013 I.F. Stone Award for Emerging Journalists through the Nation Institute. She is a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.
