Deadline: February 29, 2024
Applications are open for the NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship 2024. The fellowship provides an opportunity for an NABJ member to gain foreign correspondence experience and the necessary assistance to complete a project or singular report.
The fellowship is named for the first female, African American commentator employed by a U.S. network when CBS hired her in 1972. Known as the “First Lady of the Black Press,” Payne, a Chicago native, was a lecturer and columnist whose eloquent advocacy while reporting on the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s gained her national fame. Payne, who died in 1991, was the first African American female journalist to focus on international news reporting.
The fellowship was established to provide rich coverage of the African continent beyond the common storylines of HIV/AIDS, famine and war. Proposed projects are encouraged to tell the untold and dynamic stories of Africa and African people.
Travel to Africa is not required. However the recipient will be required to virtually connect and engage with African based programs, organizations and various groups within the U.S. and abroad to tell their untold and dynamic stories of Africa and the African people, the current atmosphere, and their interactions with journalists in the U.S.
Benefits
- The NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship is a $5,000 award bestowed to a worthy journalist.
Eligibility
- Applicant must be an NABJ member in good standing;
- Mid-career and veteran journalists with at least 7 years full-time journalism experience;
- Fellowship winner agrees to sign a waiver of consent to provide NABJ with expressed written consent to publish the final story and its elements (text, videos, photos), and to use the winner’s name, image and likeness in materials related to promoting the award;
- Fellowship winner agrees to name the National Association of Black Journalists as a supporter in its publication materials; suggested wording to come at a later date;
- Funds distributed to the winner are taxable, as required by law, and the responsibility of the winner;
- Completion of application requirements;
- If selected, failure to meet the noted criteria will result in a refund of funds to NABJ.
Application
For more information, visit NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship.
