Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

Applications are now open for the MJ Bear Fellowship, a one-year fellowship designed to provide support and advice to early career journalists on a digital journalism project, as well as on their own professional development.

Project themes may include public and social engagement, product development and digital or business strategy.

The fellowship is designed for promising journalists between the ages of 23 and 30 who are just beginning to make their voice heard in the industry and who are striving to push the boundaries of digital news through creative and innovative ongoing projects. Fellows can work inside or outside the newsroom, and they encourage freelance and independent journalists to apply.

Benefits

The exchange offers:

• Registration to the ONA Annual Conference. Fellows receive complimentary registration to the largest event in digital journalism and opportunities to network and share their work. The scholarship covers registration, hotel and flights to ONA23, August 23-26 in Philadelphia.
• Three tailored coaching sessions. Based on the projects the Fellows are working on and the skills they are looking to develop, ONA works with industry leaders to design customised coaching sessions for the group. Previous sessions have covered topics such as project presentation, career advancement in a changing world, public engagement, marketing and entrepreneurship.
• Membership of the NAO, with a fully paid three-year subscription.
• Additional opportunities to showcase work and expertise. During their fellowship year, fellows share their insights about their projects and career paths with the ONA community. This information becomes a permanent resource for the digital journalism community.
• Each of the 2023 Fellows will work on a project related to digital journalism during their fellowship.

What are you looking for in a digital project?

• The project is an important part of the application.
  • It has to be something already started, not just an idea or a concept. They need to see something they can examine.
  • It does not have to be a completed project; indeed, those focusing on the latest news will be ongoing. It has to be a project started on or after 1 January 2022. The reason for the date is that it must be current - not something that was done two years ago as a graduate student thesis.
  • The project should be creative and innovative.
• Project themes may include public and social engagement, product development and digital or business strategy.

Eligibility criteria

• The fellowship is open to digital journalists from around the world. In 2023, they will select six fellows. Applicants must meet the following requirements at the time of application:
  • Born between 26 June 1993 and 25 June 2000
  • Be a working digital journalist (either for an organisation or self-employed); the NAO encourages freelancers and journalists from diverse backgrounds to apply.
  • Fluent in English
  • Participating in a digital journalism project
  • Full-time students are not eligible.

Calendar

• June 2023: 2023 grant holders announced
• 23-26 August 2023: NAO Conference
• September-December 2023: Coaching sessions

For more information, please visit Online News Association (ONA) .