Fellowships

• The fellowship is limited to EWA journalist members. (You can find out more about joining EWA here. Membership is free for journalists!)
• To qualify for the fellowship, you must submit a letter from your editor or newsroom supervisor supporting your participation in the program and providing a commitment to publish/air your work upon completion in front of a paywall, if any. 
• Freelancers are eligible but must submit a letter from the appropriate editor at an independent news outlet confirming that their work will be published/aired upon completion in front of a paywall, if any.

• Ineligible applicants include employees of professional organizations, educational institutions, think tanks, alumni periodicals, advocates — or groups focused on research, advocacy or lobbying. 
• Officers and members of the EWA Board of Directors are not eligible to apply.

• EWA will provide awards of up to $10,000 each to winning proposals for its expanded fellowships, which include a higher education cohort. The micro-fellowship will provide up to $5,000 for smaller stand-alone stories or projects on the priority K-12 topics. 
• Recipients have significant flexibility when using the funds. Examples of appropriate uses include but are not limited to: relief from regular newsroom responsibilities; travel for reporting; attending workshops to build knowledge and expertise; and contracting with a data journalist, photographer or writing coach.  
• EWA expects to award approximately five expanded fellowships and two micro-fellowships in this round.
• Fellows will also have access to coaching from a veteran reporter if they choose. 
• The EWA Reporting Fellowship program is supported in part by grants from the ECMC Foundation and the Wallace Foundation.

EWA is offering two types of fellowships this round:

Micro-Fellowships

Recipients will receive up to $5,000 for stand-alone stories or smaller projects on one or more of the following topics: school-level leadership, after-school and summer learning and arts education. 

Expanded Fellowships 

Awardees will receive up to $10,000 for more ambitious and in-depth projects focused on men of color and their postsecondary challenges and opportunities. 

The fellows in this cohort will meet several times over the course of the fellowship cycle, both virtually and in person at EWA’s 78th National Seminar in May 2025 to hear from experts and share reporting strategies.

• Fellowship projects are typically published within six-to-nine months of the grant being awarded. Fellows who anticipate needing additional reporting time will have an opportunity in their application to request an adjusted project deadline.
• Fellows are required to submit final deliverables 30 days post-publication. This includes story metrics captured one month after the work is published, a personal narrative explaining the reach and impact of the project, and a budget detailing line-item expenditure of fellowship funds. This information is necessary to consider the fellowship project complete.

Project Topic for Expanded Higher Ed Fellowships: 

This cohort will focus on challenges and opportunities for men of color in postsecondary education, including: identifying and addressing barriers to degree completion; efforts to make access to higher education more equitable; and increasing public understanding of the wide-ranging challenges facing men of color as well as potential solutions. 

Project Topics for Micro-Fellowships:

• Efforts to strengthen and diversify leadership in public K-12 schools, focusing on their impact on student learning and educator effectiveness.
• Efforts that investigate the principal pipeline and the professional development of future school leaders.
• Efforts to provide development and enrichment for children and teens during after-school hours, weekends and school breaks (including the summer).
• Efforts that highlight the impact of high-quality after-school and summer programs on academic achievement, life skills and career readiness.
• Efforts to improve the accessibility of high-quality arts education for all young people, particularly with an equity-centered lens. 
• Efforts to investigate the role that public schools, community organizations, private funders, and government agencies play in providing youth with rich opportunities for growth, learning and fun.

Expanded Fellowships

Multi-Part Series on Special Education Teacher Shortage in North Carolina (Chantal Brown, EdNC)

Unwelcome to America: Hundreds of U.S. High Schools Wrongfully Denied Entry to Older, Immigrant Student (Jo Napolitano, The 74 Million)

Black Teachers are Leaving. How Can Maryland Get them to Stay? (Kristen Griffith, The Baltimore Banner)

Want a Degree Without Classes or Lectures? California Community Colleges Try New Approach (Adam Echelman, CalMatters)

Micro-Fellowships

Pushing past home economics stereotypes, these FCS teachers prepare students for a modern workforce (Victoria Pasquantonio, PBS NewsHour) 

Latino College Enrollment Stagnated During the Pandemic: What’s Happening Now? (Jose Davila IV, KUNR)

• EWA will consider a number of factors, such as whether the applicant is approaching the topic from a fresh journalistic angle or using innovative tools to help tell the story. Examples include multimedia components or data analysis, and whether the proposed project will bring heightened attention to a critical issue in a compelling and insightful way.  EWA seeks to support and elevate solutions-oriented journalism. We hope the project will be the first of many stories that reporters will pursue long after the fellowship is over.
• Finalists for an EWA Reporting Fellowship may be asked for further information before a decision is made on their applications.

• We strongly encourage you to first preview the application questions and then prepare your responses and materials for submission to our online system. The link to the application is at the bottom of the preview page. 
• Please note: Once you start your application, you cannot save your progress and continue later. After you submit your application, you cannot change your answers.

• Once you start your application, you cannot save your progress and continue later. After you submit your application, you cannot change your answers.
• You can apply here.
• The deadline to apply is 8:59 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

• Email EWA at fellowship@ewa.org