World Affairs Journalism Fellowships:
Program Details

2007 World Affairs Fellow, Bob Moser, of the Daily Advertiser interviews a group of farm workers in Brazil for his Fellowship. Photo by Marcelo Min of Agencia Fotogarrafa.

Purpose
The World Affairs Journalism Fellowships are intended for experienced journalists and editors from America's community-based media outlets. The goal is to give them an opportunity to establish the connections between local-regional issues and what is happening abroad.

Fellows will spend about two weeks reporting overseas in an effort to "internationalize" America's local media. The fellowships are founded on the belief that local news is not limited to one's immediate community and that enterprising reporters and editors can find good international stories in their own backyards.

Program Administrators
The program is administered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The fellowships are funded by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in Oklahoma City, with additional support for one fellowship from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Selection and Eligibility
Up to 8 fellows from the United States will be selected and provided support to develop projects that will lead to articles in their home media. The articles will shed light on global issues that have a direct impact on their local communities.

Click on the link to the "Project Proposal Guidelines" at the top of this page, for more information on the proposal to be submitted with the application. Potential fellows should pay close attention to the recommended structure for the project plan.

Preference will be given to applicants from community-based media organizations that do not have overseas correspondents and that would be unlikely to have the resources to support an overseas reporting assignment for a member of their local news team.

Program Timetable
The deadline for applications is June 10, 2009. The World Affairs Journalism Fellowship Selection Committee will meet in June for the selection of fellows. After selection, participants will take part in a mandatory week-long orientation program in Washington, D.C., from August 30 to September 4. Following this session, the fellows will continue to refine their project proposals with the assistance of the fellowship administrators and will travel overseas on their individual two-week assignment between mid-September and December 31. Articles based on work done through the fellowship should be published by February 1, 2010.

Preparation
The Washington orientation program will provide a wide-ranging overview designed to prepare the fellows for their overseas assignments and to provide useful background for the projects they develop. The International Center for Journalists will work closely with each participant to help make the project as practical as possible, and will assist in establishing contacts and supporting partners in the overseas venues. However, each fellow will have the primary responsibility for identifying key contacts, interview subjects and on-site sources of information as well as planning their day-to-day itineraries during the overseas assignment. ICFJ will assist with the logistics for international and on-site travel, including accommodations.

Research and Writing
Once oriented, each participant will travel overseas for the fellowship on a schedule mutually agreed to by the administrators. Fellows are expected to work overseas for about two weeks. The type of project - e.g., traveling to or through a region, interviewing individual contacts, researching and fact-finding - will depend upon the project designed by each participant. Each fellow will often work with local organizations, professional media associations, universities and/or individual media companies in fashioning an effective project.

The International Center for Journalists assists at all stages of preparation to help ensure that the experience is useful and that the fellows are able to work efficiently in the assignment countries. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting will provide expert assistance of a camera operator to the journalist selected as the Pulitzer Center World Affairs Journalism Fellow. Projects must be approved by the fellowship committee prior to departure overseas.

Post-Research
The goal of the program is to produce stories or commentary that are published or broadcast in the fellow's media organization. In order to highlight the impact of the program, stories produced by participants will be compiled as a compendium and distributed to a wide range of media and organizations involved in international exchanges.

In addition, each participant will be expected to give a presentation to at least 20 other journalists about what he or she learned about connections between local communities and global issues. At the conclusion of the fellowship--by February 28, 2010--each fellow is also required to complete a written program evaluation and provide a narrative summary of his or her overseas assignment.

Financial Information
While overseas, each fellow receives transportation and living expenses. Expenses will be based on the actual cost of traveling to and living in each country while carrying out the approved project. The program does not support spouses or companions on the overseas assignments.

Fellowship Application
The application package includes:

guidelines for applying and preparing the project proposal
an application form

Fellowship Deadline Summary

June 10, 2009 - Application Deadline
Early July - Fellow Notification
August 30 to September 4 - Washington, D.C.,
One-week orientation program
mid-September to December 31 - Participants travel overseas (about two weeks)
February 1, 2010 - Articles published and reports completed

For more information, contact:
The World Affairs Journalism Fellowships
wajf@icfj.org

World Affairs Journalism Fellowships: Program Details

Guidelines for Preparing a Project Proposal

World Affairs Journalism Fellowships:
Program Details