Fellowships
Fellowships are excellent opportunities to gain on-the-job experience and make valuable connections with professionals in media industries. Many prestigious media organizations and foundations have paid fellowship programs designed for students with diverse backgrounds. Take a look below at some of the life-changing fellowship opportunities available. The JPR department strongly encourages you to apply for fellowships that pique your interest and could potentially launch the career of your dreams.
Instagram Local News Fellowship
Eligibility: Open to December 2019 and May 2020 graduates with at least one newsroom internship or have spent at least one full year on a college newspaper staff.
Fellows will be paid $8,000 upfront and assigned to a full-time, two-month newsroom opportunity somewhere in the USA this summer. They also get to attend a fellowship kickoff event at Facebook’s New York HQ at the beginning of June. The deadline for applications in Friday, March 6. Click here for more details and to apply now!
Meanwhile, our NPR NextGenRadio friend Doug Mitchell is hosting another NPR NextGenRadio boot camp at USC March 15-20. CSULB JPR students are encouraged to apply. The deadline for the boot camp is this Sunday, March 1. Interested students can apply here:
https://nextgenerationradio.org/apply/
New York Times Journalism Fellowship
Eligibility: Recent graduates of college and graduate school who are early in their journalism careers.
The New York Times Fellowship, a one-year work program aimed at cultivating the next generation of journalists.
We hope that this new immersive program will benefit not only the participants and The Times, but also other newsrooms. We expect most of our fellows will graduate to positions at other publications.
Creation of the fellowship also means that we plan to retire our existing newsroom summer internship.
We believe the fellowship, which will incorporate speakers, feedback and training opportunities, will better serve budding journalists. The fellowship also will target many of the same candidates as the internship: qualified recent college graduates and postgraduates. These changes will not affect our summer internship program in business departments.
The fellowship will begin in June. The program will incorporate reporters across a range of sections, as well as journalists in Photo, Visual Investigations/Video, Graphics, News Design, Audio, Opinion and The New York Times Magazine.
Emmy Television Academy Internship
Eligibility: All Undergraduate and Graduate Students
The Television Academy Foundation’s Internship Program provides 50 internships in over 20 different categories to college students nationwide. The program gives both undergraduate and graduate students in-depth exposure to professional television production during an eight-week, paid summer period in Los Angeles. Past hosts include: HBO, Warner Bros. FOX TV Studios, ABC Studios, E! Entertainment, NBCUniversal, CBS, Nickelodeon, Walt Disney Studios, and more
ProPublica Fellowships (Check Year Round)
Eligibility: All Undergraduates, College- Graduates
ProPublica offers a variety of fellowships throughout the year, ranging anywhere from three months to a year. All of them are paid positions. Some of these fellowships are offered only occasionally, others are recurring. Because our fellowships do not always have a fixed end date, there is no regular schedule, but we do keep this page updated with the current status of all of our fellowships.
One of our missions is to bring journalists from a broad array of social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds into journalism, including African Americans, Latinos, other people of color, women, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. We are committed to diversity and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply.
Even if no fellowships are open at the moment, we are always looking for potential candidates. If you think you’d be a great fit for one of these positions, we encourage you to email us at fellowships@propublica.org.
Eligibility: All Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Journalist Professionals
2-week intensive workshop teaches you how to use data, design, and code for journalism. It usually runs in October and the deadline to apply is September.
Scripps Howard Foundation Journalism Fellowship
Eligibility: Seniors, College Graduates
The Scripps Howard Foundation offers a 12-month fellowship program in conjunction with the Scripps News Washington Bureau/Newsy and ProPublica’s New York City newsroom.
The program, which starts in June, is a paid opportunity for postgraduates looking to kick start their journalism career. Your degree does not have to be in journalism to be considered. We are looking for people with a demonstrated passion and commitment to journalism, and a desire to become a future leader in the industry.
Eligibility: All Undergraduate and Graduate Students, and Professionals
The CNN Diversity Fellowship is open to journalists from diverse backgrounds — including of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender — with experience reporting for mobile and social platforms. Selected fellows receive an all-expenses-paid trip to ONA18. These benefits include:
- Complimentary registration for the conference
- Roundtrip economy-class airfare to Austin
- Four nights’ accommodation at the venue, JW Marriott
- Some meals included within conference registration
- Winners also participate in one-on-one networking and mentoring events throughout the conference.
NPR ‘Reflect America’ Fellowship
Eligibility: Journalists with at least two years’ experience (including internships and other fellowships) in any journalism medium
The Reflect America Fellowship will bring a tenacious journalist to NPR for 18 months to help our journalism look and sound like America by finding new, diverse sources.
The fellowship is designed for an early- or mid-career journalist who wants to work and grow in one of the nation’s most dynamic newsrooms. The Fellow will have the opportunity to gain critical skills in reporting, writing and producing on audio and digital platforms while working with some of the country’s best journalists.
The fellowship is a series of three- to four-month rotations spent with various shows and coverage teams at NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Fellow will be embedded with producers, reporters, editors and other staff, working to find, vet and book a diversity of experts and everyday people for stories and interviews on the radio, online and in podcasts. The Fellow will also support the efforts of NPR and Member stations to build a public media workforce that reflects America.
Fulbright National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship
Eligibility: Seniors, College Graduates
The Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship, a component of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, provides opportunities for U.S. citizens to participate in an academic year of overseas travel and storytelling in one, two, or three countries on a globally significant theme. This Fellowship is made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society. Storytellers publish stories on the Fulbright-National Geographic Stories blog.
Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting Fellowship Program
Eligibility:
- Must have three years of professional news reporting experience.
- The program is open to all print, broadcast, online and multi-media journalists.
- Must be able to participate in 4-6, weeklong trainings in NYC.
- Freelancers can apply, but they must have a news organization willing to write a supportive statement and publish their work.
The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting Fellowship Program is a yearlong, intensive, no-cost training program that will bring fellows to New York City to learn in-depth investigative reporting techniques from some of the most accomplished journalists in the field.
Chips Quinn Scholars Program For Diversity In Journalism
Eligibility: College juniors, seniors, graduate students and recent graduates with majors in journalism or career goals in journalism.
The Chips Quinn Scholars Program for Diversity in Journalism offers students hands-on training and mentoring by caring news veterans. More than 1,400 men and women have been named Chips Quinn Scholars since 1991, making it the largest and most enduring diversity initiative of the Freedom Forum Institute.
The program’s aim: Provide training and support that will open doors to news and information careers and bring greater diversity to the newsrooms of the United States.
The program, operated by the Freedom Forum Institute and funded by the Freedom Forum, matches qualified candidates with participating news organizations from across the country for 10- to 12-week paid internships. Selected scholars participate in an intense, one-week orientation/multimedia training workshop at the John Seigenthaler Center in Nashville, Tenn., in preparation for their internships. The training in Nashville is paid for by the Freedom Forum Institute.
Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program
Eligibility: Seniors, College Graduates
The Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) supports a global community of dedicated and thoughtful journalists specializing in science, health, technology and environmental reporting.Fellows receive a stipend of $70,000 as well as some additional benefits, including basic health insurance.
Since its founding, KSJ@MIT has hosted more than 300 fellows, who continue to cover science across a range of platforms in the United States, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Time, Scientific American, Science, the Associated Press, ABC News, and CNN, as well as in numerous other countries.
Spotlight Investigative Journalism Fellowship
Sponsored by Participant Media and The Boston Globe
Eligibility: Seniors, College Graduates, Experienced Journalists
Participant Media and The Boston Globe are proud to sponsor the Spotlight Investigative Journalism Fellowship. The fellowship awards up to $100,000 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’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Spotlight Team.