The Harold W. McGraw Jr. Center for Business Journalism, an initiative of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York is inviting journalists with at least five years professional experience, freelance journalists, reporters and editors who currently work at a news organization or for a journalism non-profit to apply for the McGraw Fellowship in Business Journalism.
The Fellowship provides editorial and financial support to journalists who need the time and resources to produce a significant investigative or enterprise story that provides fresh insight into an important business, financial or economic topic. It accepts applications for in-depth text, video or audio pieces, and encourages proposals that take advantage of more than one storytelling form to create a multimedia package. It is however not a residency Fellowship; all Fellows work from their own offices.
Interested journalists should submit a well-focused story proposal of no more than three pages through the online form. An applicant should think of his/her story proposal as pitch, much like he/she would submit to an editor at a newspaper, magazine, digital outlet, or radio station. The applicant should give enough preliminary reporting and documentation to demonstrate that the story is solid.
The proposal should highlight what is new and significant about the story, why it matters and what its potential impact might be. It should also note where significant stories on the subject have run elsewhere and how the proposed piece would differ.
Applicants should also briefly outline a proposed reporting plan and a timeline for completing the story, and indicate if a media outlet is lined up to run the story.
In addition, applicants should enclose three journalism samples, professionally published works that showcase their ability to tackle an in-depth story in the proposed medium. They should also submit their résumé and references from two editors or others familiar with their works and where this is a problem, applicants please contact the center to discuss alternatives.
No budget is required at the time of application, but applicants chosen as finalists will be asked to provide an estimated budget at that time.
The Center generally accepts applications twice a year. The deadline for Summer 2019 Fellowships is June 28, 2019 while applications for the Winter 2020 Fellowships will be due January 3, 2020.
However, the Center will also consider time-sensitive projects on a case-by-case basis outside of the deadline periods. Journalists who have a project that might qualify are therefore encouraged to contact the Center at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu
