The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship provides academic and professional opportunities to advance the reporting skills of women journalists who focus on human rights and social justice. The Fellowship was created in memory of The Boston Globe correspondent and IWMF Courage in Journalism Award (1998) winner Elizabeth Neuffer, who died while reporting in Iraq on May 9, 2003. In collaboration with Neuffer’s family and friends, the IWMF started this program to honour Neuffer’s legacy while advancing her work in the fields of human rights and social justice.
The Neuffer Fellowship is designed for staff or freelance women journalists with at least three years of professional experience in journalism working in print, broadcast, or digital media. All nationalities are welcome to apply but non-native English speakers must have excellent written and verbal English skills in order to fully participate in and benefit from the program. The Fellow will complete research and coursework at MIT’s Center for International Studies and journalism internships at The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The flexible structure of the program will provide the fellow with opportunities to pursue academic research and hone her reporting skills. Past fellows have taken advantage of opportunities to publish work under their byline through various media outlets.
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Due to COVID-19, the 2021-2022 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship may take place in-person or virtually. The IWMF and its partners reserve the right to determine the format of the Fellowship prior to the Fellowship start date.
The seven-month Fellowship begins in the fall and concludes in the spring every year. The program includes both an orientation and closing session in Washington, D.C.
Neuffer Fellows are based at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts from September to January. Working with the IWMF, they design a program that will enable them to pursue academic research while improving their ability to cover human rights and social justice issues.
Following the fall semester, Neuffer Fellows are based in New York City where they complete a full-time internship at The New York Times from February to March.
Benefits
- Neuffer Fellows receive a fixed monthly stipend to cover their living costs.
- The IWMF also arranges and covers the cost of housing in Cambridge and New York City for the fellow.
- The IWMF purchases round-trip economy airfare from the fellow’s place of residence to Washington, D.C., as well as transportation between the Fellowship cities.
- The fellow receives health insurance during the program.
- The Fellowship does not include a salary.
- For fellows residing outside of the United States, the Fellowship also covers the costs of applying for and obtaining a U.S. visa.
- The fellow is fully responsible for any additional incidental expenses and other costs.
Eligibilities
- The Neuffer Fellowship is open to women and non-binary journalists whose work focuses on human rights and social justice issues.
- All applicants for the Neuffer Fellowship must be working journalists with at least three years of full-time, professional journalism experience. Internships and journalism-related work completed as a university student do not count as professional experience. Applicants may be affiliated or freelance journalists.
- Journalists from any country around the world are eligible to apply. However, applicants must speak, read, and write English fluently in order to fully participate in and benefit from the Fellowship.
Application Process
A complete application will include the following information:
- Biography
- Current résumé or CV
- Statement of interest
- Fellowship goals
- Two work samples covering human rights or social justice issues (links preferred)
- If work samples are not in English, applicants must upload their own translations along with a professional translator’s assessment of their accuracy. Alternatively, applicants may have their work samples translated professionally.
- Two letters of recommendation (in English)
Rather than a lengthy statement of interest, they ask applicants to answer a series of questions that will help us learn about them and their reasons for seeking the Neuffer Fellowship.
The following questions are included in the “Statement of Interest” section:
- Why is this a good time in your career to participate in the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship? (limit of 500 words)
- What is the single most important goal you hope to achieve with the Fellowship? Why? (limit of 500 words)
- How will achieving the Fellowship goal outlined above improve your journalism on human rights and social justice issues? (limit of 250 words)
- What are your long-term ambitions? What do you expect to be doing in five years after the Fellowship, and how do you expect the Fellowship experience to help you achieve those ambitions? (limit of 250 words)
The following questions are included in the “Fellowship Goals” section:
- The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship has both an academic and journalism component. Does one hold more interest or importance for you in your current career situation than the other does? If so, please explain. (limit of 250 words)
- Please indicate the subjects you would like to research and explain how they will enrich your journalism and how they relate to your career objectives. (limit of 500 words)
- Please detail the kind of journalism experiences you would like to have and the particular skills you would like to develop during the newspaper internships. (limit of 500 words)
- How will these experiences and skills advance your short and long-term career objectives? (limit of 500 words)
- Beyond The Boston Globe and The New York Times, are there any outlets or events you would like to access while a Fellow? (limit of 500 words)
Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.
Application Deadline: February 25, 2021
Application ClosedOfficial link
