Deadline: 18 December 2020
Open to: U.S. citizens and news organizations as well as international news outlets
Benefits: stipends and other benefits

Description

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute invites proposals from individuals and organizations who wish to partner with them on innovative projects that strengthen journalism’s future.

Chosen projects often include devising new strategies or models to solve a problem, building new tools, creating a prototype or advancing a prototype so it’s ready for investment or launch. All projects will be built and implemented in a newsroom within the span of the 8 month fellowship.

Whatever your idea, its benefits should be able to extend to other news organizations and the people who depend on them. You will publish regular updates at rjionline.org to share what you’re learning and how it could benefit news organizations. At the end of your fellowship, you will publish the results and lessons learned from the implementation of your project after it has been tested or utilized in a newsroom.

They have three types of RJI Fellowships:

Residential

Residential fellowships are designed for individuals who want to collaborate with RJI staff, students and faculty on-site at our institute in Columbia, Missouri. Residential fellows spend eight months on campus at the Missouri School of Journalism to take advantage of the intellectual and technological resources of RJI and the Missouri School of Journalism. Resource examples include access to programmers and app developers, support to conduct market research, and paid students to produce multimedia content.

Your final project — in the form of strategies, products or services — developed from the original idea will be shared with many news and news-related organizations. You must reside in Columbia, Missouri, for the duration of this fellowship. The project can be tested and implemented at one of the Mizzou newsrooms or another newsroom of your choice during your fellowship.

• WHO QUALIFIES: Anyone above the age of 18
• START DATE: June 1, 2021
• DURATION: 8 months (two academic semesters)
• STIPEND: Fellows receive a USD 10,000 a month stipend and a one-time reimbursement for relocations up to USD 10,000.
• APPLICATION DEADLINE: Dec. 18, 2020

Nonresidential

Nonresidential fellowships can tackle something you are interested in pursuing on your own or something that could benefit a current employer. You do not need to live in Columbia but you will need to make at least one visit to consult with RJI leadership and staff. Your project will be implemented and tested in the newsroom of your choice during your fellowship.

• WHO: Anyone above the age of 18
• START: Starting date is negotiable
• HOW LONG: 8 months
• STIPEND: Fellows receive a USD 20,000 stipend, payable quarterly in increments of USD 5000.
• APPLICATION DEADLINE: Dec. 18, 2020

Institutional

Institutional fellowships are designed to unlock some of the thoughtful, meaningful ideas in your newsroom or company that for various reasons haven’t been able to be explored yet. RJI will collaborate with a leader at your institution or company who can develop the idea and lead a team that will make it a reality. That leader will be named an RJI Fellow but will continue working at his or her job. The stipend for this fellowship will be paid to the company or institution to be used for salary relief for the fellow, or for another purpose that the company or institution determines will best ensure the success of the fellowship project. The project will be implemented and tested at the institution or in a newsroom of their choice during the fellowship.

• WHO: Managers and executives from institutions or companies
• START: Starting date is negotiable
• HOW LONG: 8 months
• STIPEND: Fellow’s institutions receive a USD 20,000 stipend, payable quarterly in increments of USD 5000 to the institution
• APPLICATION DEADLINE: Dec. 18, 2020

Eligibility

RJI Fellowships are open to U.S. citizens and news organizations as well as international news outlets. They also welcome proposals from international journalists who plan to partner with U.S.-based news, technology and civil society organizations.

Benefits 

Stipends available for all types of fellowships.

For more information, please visit the official web page.