The Google Journalism Fellowship programme is receiving applications from students interested in journalism and technology. It offers them the opportunity to spend the summer working at relevant organizations in a bid to gain valuable experience and make lifelong contacts and friends.
The Fellowship was created to help groom the next generation of innovative reporters to keep entertaining and informing people around the world. It welcomes students not only those from journalism programs but also students from all disciplines who have a passion for storytelling and reporting.
This program is targeted at undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines interested in telling stories in new and dynamic ways using technological innovations. The Fellows will get the opportunity to spend the summer contributing to a variety of organizations – from those that have their depths in investigative journalism to those working for press freedom around the world and from those forging new approaches to reporting to those that are helping the industry figure out its future in the digital age.
The main focus of the Google Journalism Fellowship will be data driven journalism, building news apps, online free expression and rethinking the business of journalism. The 10-week long Fellowship will open with time spent at Google followed by nine weeks at one of the participating organizations.
The host organizations taking part are based in Berkeley, Columbia, Cambridge, Denver, St. Petersburg/Miami, Boston, New York, and Washington DC.
Organizations participating in Google Journalism Fellowship program 2015 include:
- Center for Investigative Reporting
- Committee to Protect Journalists
- Inside Energy
- Investigative Reporters & Editors/Computer Assisted Reporting
- Nieman Journalism Lab
- Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism
- Poynter
- PRI.org
- ProPublica
- Sunlight Foundation
- Texas Tribune
Fellows will be assigned a lead mentor at their host organizations, but will have the opportunity to work with several senior staff members over the course of the summer. They will be expected to play active roles and make contributions to the work of their organization, including researching and writing stories, contributing to open source data programs, creating timely data to accurately frame public debates about issues in the United States and the world as well as finding new and compelling ways to use data to tell stories.
Like all of these opportunities, each fellow will get out of it as much as he/she puts in as a number of Fellows have been given employments as a result of the program.
Students who wish to apply to participate in the Google Journalism Fellowship Program in 2015 must be 18 years or older by January 1, 2015, based in the United States and are eligible to work in the US.
Applicants are expected to possess the following qualities:
- Demonstrated or stated commitment to journalism – especially in the fields of data driven journalism or freedom of expression online
- An interest in exploring and creating business models to help the industry in the digital age
- Excellent academic record, professional/extracurricular/volunteer activities, subject matter expertise
- First-rate analytical, communications, research, and writing skills
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and efficiently, and to work smartly and resourcefully in a fast-paced environment
- Experience with HTML, JavaScript or another web programming language and experience with Microsoft Excel or a database system is an advantage for applicants.
A stipend of $8,500 USD for 10 weeks during the summer of 2015 (June-August) and a travel budget of $1,000 USD will be given to fellows.
The Fellowship starts on June 8, 2015 with time at Google in Mountain View, California on the first week of the program while Fellows will join their host organization on June 15, 2015 and finish on August 14, 2015.
