Knight Science Journalism Scholarship
Journalists fellowship for mid-career journalists in science, technology, environment, or medicine for International students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012 USA
Study Subject(s):Science, technology, the environment, or medicine
Course Level:Journalists Fellowship
Scholarship Provider: Sloan and Mellon first, then the bulk of donation from the Knight Foundation
Scholarship can be taken at: USA
Eligibility:
Applicants must be full-time journalists, whether they are on staff or freelance. Part-time writers or producers are not eligible. Applicants must have at least three full years of experience covering science, technology, the environment, or medicine; or at least five years of other journalism experience and a desire to cover those areas in the future. Journalism experience must be in the years immediately prior to applying. Applicants may be reporters, writers, editors, producers, illustrators or photo-journalists. They may work for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the Web. There are no educational prerequisites, nor is there an age-limit. Professionals working in public information, public relations, the trade press, government or academia are not eligible. Proficiency in English is necessary for Fellows to make the most of their time at MIT. If you have taken the IELTS or TOEFL exam, we’d like to know your score. If you have not, but English is not your native language, we’d encourage you to take the IELTS exam.
Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes
Scholarship Description: The Knight Science Journalism program at MIT has several key parts: The full-year Fellowships, the short course workshops (called “boot camps”) in specific subjects, and the blog called the KSJ Tracker. The nine-month Fellowships have now trained 301 journalists from every continent. Non-U.S. fellows have been appointed since 1984, and now typically comprise half of each class. Graduates of the program continue to move up, to win prizes (including the Pulitzer), and to extend their work to new levels (including 170 books by the latest count). One former Fellow has headed the “NOVA” public television series since 1984. The program’s second major activity, the short courses on urgent topics launched ten years ago, continue at the rate of three per year, of which two are attended by the nine-month Fellows. Enlisting a large fraction of the leading science journalists, the short courses have trained 318 of them.
How to Apply: Online, Please email your subsequent materials, listed below,with “Knight Application” in the Subject field. B) Professional autobiography:Tell us about your professional life. Not to exceed 750 words. C) Résumé or Curriculum Vitae: Be sure to include your education and work history. D) Fellowship year proposal: Tell us what you plan to do during a fellowship year and how that would fit in with your professional goals. Not to exceed 750 words. E) Freelancers: (Non-freelancers, skip this item). Provide a list of all your jobs in the last 12 months—what you did, for whom and, if your client is not widely known provide some idea of who or what it is. A few words for each job is sufficient. F) Samples of professional work: Please provide six samples. If your work is in a format that cannot be submitted electronically, please contact us for submission details. Guidelines for samples:
•Select six works that best show your interests and abilities. Please, no more than six.
•All six samples should have been published or broadcast within the last 24 months.
•If work is available online, we prefer you provide a PDF (for print), an .mp3 (for audio) or an .mp4 (for video) in addition to the URL for each work sample.
•If original work is not in English, English translations are required for at least three of the works.
•Editors/Producers/Directors should indicate their involvement in the piece.
•For series, send only the first and last pieces, with a brief outline of other items in the series.
•For books, submit one chapter. (PDF files preferred.)
•For audio/visual, submit a sample (or samples) with a total running time of up to 40 minutes. If samples are submitted on a CD or DVD, please include a written manuscript or synopsis indicating where each item (program, story or segment) begins. Please contact us first before sending CDs or DVDs. For online submissions, .mp3 or .mp4 files are preferred. Please contact us for details on how to upload your samples.
•For photography/graphics, submit published works in context or as unmounted printouts. (For electronic submissions, JPG or GIF files preferred.)
•Note, mailed submissions will not be returned. G) Four Letters of Recommendation:
•Three letters should be from individuals familiar with your work, commenting on your abilities and your commitment to journalism.
•Optional: One letter should come from your organization’s publisher or your immediate supervisor, supporting your application and granting a 9-month leave of absence if awarded the Fellowship. (Freelancers, and people thinking of leaving their jobs to take a fellowship need only provide the first three letters.) Letters may be emailed to [email protected], and should come directly from the recommender, not from a third party. Letters must reach us.We prefer PDF files, but if you are unable to send a PDF we also accept DOC or TXT files. We have a dropbox for submitting large audio or video files. We prefer .mp3 for audio and .mp4 for video files. However, we do accept most other formats.
Scholarship Application Deadline: March 1, 2013
Further Scholarship Information and Application