Mongabay, an independent, non-profit media organization based in California, in the United States, devoted to environmental journalism and education, is inviting applications from environmental reporters from around the world for the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Programme aimed at helping fellows to join its growing global network as regular contributors.
Mongabay noted that with the effects of environmental degradation becoming more apparent, high-quality environmental journalism is more important than ever. It stated that just like the journalism sector as a whole, environmental reporting has been affected by shifting business models that have reduced the availability of resources for reporting, shrinking press freedoms in many countries and a lack of early-stage career opportunities. These issues, it pointed out, are especially acute in places that bear the brunt of climate change, biodiversity loss, the destruction of nature and threats against indigenous peoples and local communities.
In response to this situation, Mongabay established the Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Programme to provide opportunities for journalists from biodiversity hotspots in tropical countries to report on critical environmental issues, gaining valuable training, experience, and credibility that will help them advance their careers in journalism and communications.
Since 2008, the programme has provided training and first-hand reporting experience for a number of budding journalists in more than a dozen countries. The interns have proceeded to establish careers as professional journalists, communications professionals at scientific institutions, conservation NGOs, and at Mongabay as well.
The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Programme will support up to 12 fellows per year – six at its global English bureau and six at its Spanish-language bureau, Mongabay-Latam. Each cohort will consist of three fellows per bureau.
The fellowship will run twice a year: April 1 through September 30 and October 1 through March 31. The application window for the April-September cohort will run from December 15 to February 10, whilst the application window for the October-March cohort will run June 15 to August 10.
Each fellow receives US$500 a month for the duration of the six-month fellowship or US$3,000 in total. During that time, they will work directly with the fellowship editor to produce six stories and have opportunities to collaborate with multiple Mongabay editors, including those who specialize in different areas. They would also be expected to commit to engaging 10 hours a week as well as producing an average of one story per month over the course of the fellowship to be published on Mongabay’s website.
Mongabay does not have an office and cannot support work visas as a result, fellows would work remotely.
To be eligible:
- Applicants must be from a low- to upper-middle income tropical country, as classified by the World Bank. “High-income” tropical countries, such as Singapore and Australia, are excluded from the fellowship. (A list of eligible countries can be found here),
- Applicants must be aspiring, early-career environmental journalists, be able to work remotely and commit to 10 hours per week.
- There is no educational requirement to apply for the programme as it is not linked to any university.
- All application materials must be submitted in the appropriate language (English for the English-language program and Spanish for the Spanish-language programme).
Applicants should send a resume (1-2 pages maximum); Cover letter (1 page maximum) introducing themselves and answering the questions: What are your career goals, and how does environmental journalism fit in? Why should Mongabay select you for this fellowship? They should also send one writing sample in a journalistic style (published or unpublished) related to conservation or other environmental issues.
For further details and to apply, please visit https://mongabay.org/programs/news/interns/the-y-eva-tan-conservation-reporting-fellowship/.
