The Spencer Fellowship for Education Reporting is open to journalists and educators who want to develop and publish an ambitious long-form journalism project that advances public understanding of education.
Donor Name: Spencer Foundation
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 02/01/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Four fellows will be selected for this yearlong program based at Columbia Journalism School. The fellowship combines study and research with advising from faculty experts at Columbia, Teachers College and elsewhere.
Residential fellows are expected to live near the Columbia campus in order to participate in events, take classes, and meet with their mentors, scholars, students and researchers during the course of the year. Fellows should not take on outside employment, except with the approval of the director. They are responsible for finding housing. The fellows will have a workspace in the Journalism School, complete with their own computer terminal, phone and printer.
Funding Information
- Each residential fellow receives an $85,000 scholarship for personal living expenses. The scholarship is dispensed in two halves at the beginning of each semester. In addition, each fellow receives $7,500 for the year in project expenses, also dispensed in two halves.
- Separately, the Spencer grant covers the cost of tuition and other student fees, plus basic student health insurance for residential fellows.
- Non-residential fellows receive a $43,000 stipend and $7,500 project related expenses, each dispensed in two halves. Health insurance is not available.
Eligibility Criteria
All U.S. citizens are eligible, including working journalists, freelancers and education professionals. There is no academic prerequisite. A college degree is not required. The most successful candidates are those with experience in the field of education journalism, defined in broad terms to include a wide swath of disciplines related to education such as juvenile justice, economics, arts and culture, poverty and the science of learning. Judges look for a demonstrated ability to research and tell stories in a journalistic style. The strength of the project idea is key, along with the candidate’s potential to complete and publish or produce for a general audience.
The application includes:
- A resume and a professional narrative biography. The narrative biography is more personal than a traditional resume and should illustrate the origins of your commitment to the general field of education.
- No more than four examples of work that demonstrate interest in education research and writing. This can include newspaper and magazine clips, broadcasts, films, books, monographs, academic reports, or other writing samples. Applicants must provide links to any work they submit. They cannot distribute the work to the judges without links.
- An essay about the proposed project. Judges look for ambitious, high impact, original topics that have the potential to enrich the general public’s understanding of education issues. Applicants may emphasize their topic’s potential to benefit from access to the rich resources available during the fellowship year. Include any related projects currently in progress, tentative reporting and research plans, and the potential for getting the final work published. Applicants may include a documented promise of future publication, such as a letter of commitment from a publisher or news organization or a book contract, although this is not required. Applicants may also indicate a commitment to the field of education journalism after the fellowship year.
- An essay on the proposed areas of research during the fellowship year. Judges look for candidates who demonstrate an interest in taking advantage of the expertise, courses and research resources available at Columbia University and elsewhere in ways that may materially enhance their projects. Applicants may include potential research questions, professors whose work intrigues them and academic experts they would like to work with one-on-one during the year.
- Non-residential candidates are required to write a separate essay indicating why this option would work best. For some, leaving a job and relocating to New York City for a year is not feasible. Non-residential fellows live off campus and may continue to work part-time, as long as their work schedule allows enough time to devote to the project and fellowship. Non-residential fellows enjoy the same expert mentoring and access to research resources as residential fellows, but do not have access to courses or health insurance. Indicate your plans to use remotely the research support provided by the fellowship and for ultimately publishing the finished work. Applicants who intend to publish their project with their current news organization should indicate how that would work with their employer. In such cases, applicants may want to ask their immediate editor to write one of the recommendation letters supporting them and their project. Anyone eligible may apply. Journalists working in local media markets with limited resources are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to pursue an in-depth project that their news organization might otherwise find difficult to support.
- Three letters of recommendation. Letters may be from past employers, relevant professors, or other professionals who know the candidate’s work history and professional commitment to the topic well. If it applies, one letter could be from the publication or editor who has shown interest in the project.
For more information, visit Spencer Foundation.
