How to Apply

Application (download pdf) | editor/story checklist (download pdf)

The following information applies to both the competitive Fellowship programs and to the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, which is administered by The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships. Please read each section carefully, because the requirements for the various Fellowships and the Dennis Hunt grants differ somewhat.

What’s Included:

The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships will cover all expenses for travel, lodging, facilities, meals, educational and social activities, and course materials for participating Fellows. Each Fellow will be assigned a Senior Fellow to provide guidance on the Fellowship project. The program also provides travel, lodging, and meals for Fellows' editors or news directors if an Editor/Fellow Workshop is offered.

What’s Required:

The Fellowship program will only review complete applications endorsed by a news organization. Freelance journalists must submit written confirmation of a news organization's commitment to publish or air the work resulting from the Fellowship, assuming it meets its standards. When choosing Fellows, we consider each candidate's professional accomplishments and potential; his or her individual and organizational commitment, and the potential contribution of his or her proposed stories or project on the public's understanding of health issues.

Fellowship Terms:

All Fellows are expected to:

• Attend all required workshops. [Dennis Hunt grantees are expected to attend the National Fellowship sessions.]
• Participate in a "community of Fellows" during workshop sessions.
• Treat other Fellows' works-in-progress as confidential.
• Join and become active in our online community.
• Within three months of the Fellowship finalsession, complete three health-related stories or a major health reporting project that draws upon learningin the program. [National Fellows have six months after the Fellowship session to complete their stories, and Dennis Hunt grantees have one year after the award's announcementto complete their stories.]
• Disseminate information from the seminars to colleagues.
• Serve as a mentor and resource to our program as we reach out to other journalists.

What to Submit (Four Copies of Each):

Personal statement (including project proposal)

In no more than 500 words, please describe your health reporting experience. Tell us about the types of health care stories you currently cover (or would like to cover) and why you are interested in attending the Fellowship sessions or receiving a Dennis Hunt grant. Important:  Include a description of your publication, broadcast outlet or Web site, including the size, nature, and geographic reach of its audience and how it's measured.

In 750 to 1,000 words, summarize three individual stories or a major health care reporting project that you propose to pursue as part of the Fellowship or Dennis Hunt grant. Your proposal should be well-researched, suggest possible multimedia components and confirm that you have explored the topic with a supervisor. We are looking for story descriptions that are in-depth and indicate that the applicant has already done some preliminary research. (In the case of freelancers, applicants should discuss their topics with an assigning editor or producer for a target publication or broadcast outlet, who must agree in principle to publish or broadcast the project.)

If you are applying for the National Fellowship, your Fellowship statement should also include a general description of how you intend to use the $2,000 stipend. Among the acceptable uses are compensation for extra work; translation services; Web site development; geomapping; database services; testing for environmental contaminants; hosting of a community forum; purchase of illustrations or services of a photographer or Web designer, and travel.

If you are applying for a Dennis Hunt grant, specify the size of the grant you are seeking ($2,500 to $10,000) and provides details about how you intend to spend the grant. (See above paragraph for examples of allowable uses.) The size of the requested grant should be commensurate with the complexity and anticipated cost of completing the proposed project. The selection committee reserves the right to award a lesser amount than requested. Most of the grants awarded in 2009 were for less than $5,000. 

Journalists at mainstream and ethnic publications who propose a collaborative project will be given priority consideration for all Fellowship programs and the Dennis Hunt grants. Each should submit a separate application that incorporates their jointly developed project proposal. Those selected for the National Fellowship will each be paid a $2,000 stipend Those selected for grants from the Dennis A. Hunt Fund will be paid in accordance with their proposed budget, which cannot exceed $10,000 for the joint project.

Letter from your sponsoring news organization

Please supply a letter of reference from your editor, producer, or news director that discusses your abilities and potential as a journalist. (Freelancers should submit a letter of reference from a news organization that will commit to publish or air Fellowship stories that meet its standards.)

The letter should confirm the following:

• That you have discussed your proposed stories with your supervisor;
• That your news organizationsexpects to publish or air your stories, assuming they meet their standards;
• That your employer will permit you to attend all Fellowship sessions.

Checklist from your assigning editor/producer

Please complete the Fellowship Proposal section on the checklist. Your immediate editor or supervisor should review and complete the other sections and sign.

Three samples of your professional work

Submit three samples of your best work. Include work that demonstrates your intellectual curiosity, your grasp of complex issue and your writing skills. We prefer that translations be included for stories published or broadcast in languages other than English. If that is not possible, non-English stories should be accompanied by a two-paragraph summary in English.

• Print Applicants: Samples can be from archives.
• Editor Applicants: Please submit samples of projects you supervised and edited, along with an explanation of your role in shaping the stories.
• Broadcast Applicants:Please submit stories on CD or DVD (no more than 30 minutes in total time) with explanatory material as needed.
• Online Media Applicants: Please submit printouts of work samples, along with the URLs and dates the stories appeared. samples of projects you supervised and edited, along with an explanation of your role in shaping the stories.

Please submit by mail FOUR COPIES of each of the following items:

• Completed application form
• Current resume
• Fellowship statement (including project proposal)
• Letter from your sponsoring news organization
• Signed checklist from your supervising editor/producer
• Three samples of your professional work

Send them via a trackable service to:

The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships
USC Annenberg School of Journalism
South Fremont Avenue
Unit 83, Bldg. A-0, 2nd Floor
Alhambra, CA 91803

Applications for the Dennis A. Hunt grants must be postmarked by May 5, 2010.

Applications for the National Health Journalism Fellowships must be postmarked by May 12, 2010.

For more information about the Fellowhips or the Dennis A. Hunt Grants for Health Journalism, please contact:

Martha Shirk, Program Consultant

E-mail: cahealth@usc.edu