Board Chair, Mongabay
Journalists from around the globe are invited to apply for the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists which provide an opportunity for national and international journalists to improve their reporting skills and gain valuable insights through faculty lectures and dynamic discussions.
High-quality environmental journalism has become more important than ever because the effects of environmental degradation is becoming more apparent. However, environmental reporting, like the journalism sector as a whole, 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 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.
It is in response to this situation that 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, as well as gain valuable training, experience, and credibility that will help them advance their careers in journalism and communications.
The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Programme builds on Mongabay’s long-running internship programme, which has helped to boost the capacity of environmental journalists in a field where such experience can be hard to acquire. The programme, has since 2008, provided training and first-hand reporting experience for dozens of budding journalists in more than a dozen countries. Mongabay interns have gone on to establish careers as professional journalists, communications professionals at scientific institutions and conservation NGOs, and at Mongabay itself.
The Fellowship Programme supports up to 12 fellows per year – six at its global English bureau and six at the Spanish-language bureau, Mongabay-Latam, with each cohort consisting of three fellows per bureau.
The fellowship runs 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, while the application window for the October-March cohort will run from June 15 to August 10.
Each fellow receives USD $500 a month for the six months duration of the fellowship, or USD $3,000 in total. During that time, fellows will work directly with the fellowship editor to produce six stories. Fellows will have opportunities to collaborate with multiple Mongabay editors, including those who specialize in different areas.
Each fellow is expected to commit to engaging 10 hours a week and expected to produce an average of one story per month over the course of the fellowship to be published on Mongabay’s website. Work is remote as Mongabay does not have an office and cannot support work visas.
the Programme is currently only accepting applications for its global English and Spanish language bureaus. All application materials must be submitted in the appropriate language (English for the English-language programme and Spanish for the Spanish-language programme).
Applicants will be asked to fill out basic contact information, answer a few questions about their interest, and upload the following documents:
- Resume (1-2 pages maximum)
- Cover letter (1 page maximum) with the applicant introducing him/herself and answering:
- What are his/her career goals, and how does environmental journalism fit in?
- Why should Mongabay select him/her for this fellowship?
- One writing sample in a journalistic style (published or unpublished) related to conservation or other environmental issues.
For detailed information and to apply, please visit The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Programme page.
