The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in the United States of America has announced plans to open applications for its 2027 Professional Innovation Fellowships, offering individuals and organisations funding to develop practical, innovative tools and resources aimed at strengthening journalism.
Applications for the 2027 fellowship programme will open on November 2, 2026, with the first-round application deadline set for January 8, 2027.
The fellowship is designed for individuals and organisations seeking to address current challenges and gaps in journalism by creating resources, tools, programmes, or products that can benefit journalists, newsrooms, and the communities they serve.
According to RJI, all fellowship projects must be built, tested, and launched for public use during the eight-month fellowship, while the resulting resources must be free, accessible, and open-source, allowing journalists and newsrooms to use them without charge.
RJI is offering three categories of Professional Innovation Fellowships, namely the Institutional Fellowship, Individual Fellowship, and Emerging Technology Fellowship.
The Institutional Fellowship is intended for individuals who want to work within an organisation to develop a specific resource, tool, programme, or product addressing a journalism need that can also have wider application across the industry.
The fellowship may be undertaken by someone already employed by the organisation or by an individual working with an organisation under an agreed partnership, and fellows will work collaboratively within the organisation while developing, testing, and obtaining feedback on their proposed resource before its public launch.
The Institutional Fellowship provides a US$75,000 stipend, paid in three instalments based on completion of agreed deliverables.
The Individual Fellowship is aimed at journalists, consultants, researchers, and other individuals who have identified a significant need, gap, or challenge in journalism and want to develop a practical solution.
Applicants may be full-time employees or freelancers and are expected to use the fellowship to pursue an innovative project outside their existing work. The Individual Fellowship also provides a US$75,000 stipend, paid directly to the Fellow in three instalments tied to project deliverables.
The Emerging Technology Fellowship is targeted at applicants seeking to use emerging technology to address a journalism challenge, and the technology must be central to the proposed solution, while the project should not be possible without the emerging technology being used.
The Emerging Technology Fellowship carries a US$100,000 stipend, also paid in three instalments based on completion of deliverables.
The three fellowship categories are structured as remote programmes, although Fellows will be required to make a small number of visits to the Reynolds Journalism Institute, with travel costs covered by RJI.
The 2027 fellowship is scheduled to begin on June 28, 2027, with an in-person kickoff at RJI.
Applicants do not have to be based in the United States, as the programme is open to applicants from anywhere in the world, and applicants do not have to meet a specific age requirement, professional background, or even be journalists to apply.
However, the resources developed through the programme must be immediately available for use by journalists in the United States, while projects with global applicability are encouraged. RJI says projects designed exclusively for a single city or state are unlikely to receive funding.
Fellows are expected not only to develop their ideas but also to build and test them, collect feedback from potential users, prepare them for launch, and consider their long-term sustainability.
RJI also expects Fellows to produce public-facing materials during the fellowship, including articles, webinars, and other resources through which journalists and newsrooms can learn about and use the resulting tools.
The final deliverable must be a publicly available resource that can be used by journalists and newsrooms, whether in the form of a tool, platform, programme, or workshop.
The current 2026 Professional Innovation Fellows provide examples of the type of projects RJI is seeking. Among the projects being developed are the Civic Action Toolbox, designed to help readers identify opportunities for civic participation; The Open Desk Network, a journalist-run cooperative intended to provide independent journalists with shared legal, editing, and publishing support; Civic Strata, which is developing infrastructure for collaboration among newsrooms and communities through shared access to documents, data, FOIA results, legislation, and other reporting materials; and Newsroom Radar, an AI-powered audience intelligence system intended to identify editorial insights, audience risks, and coverage opportunities.
The 2026 cohort includes projects using artificial intelligence and collaborative infrastructure for investigative and community journalism.
RJI said the projects are intended to address practical challenges confronting news organisations while producing resources that can be adopted more widely across the journalism sector.
The first round of applications for the 2027 fellowship will close on January 8, 2027. Applicants selected for the next stage will receive a more detailed application through Submittable in early to mid-February 2027 and will have approximately two to three weeks to complete it.
Finalist interviews are scheduled for April 5 to 23, 2027, with the fellowship beginning on June 28, 2027.
RJI is also scheduled to hold online question-and-answer webinars for prospective applicants on October 14 at 11 a.m. Central Time and on November 10.
