Which Program is Right for Me?
The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships offer several professional development opportunities for working journalists. Each year, we vary our offerings somewhat, so please check back frequently for updates. This guide will help you decide which program is right for you.
The National Health Journalism Fellowships will be offered from July 11-16, 2010 in Los Angeles. Applications must be postmarked by May 12, 2010. Admission to this program is highly competitive and attracts many qualified print, broadcast and new media journalists across the country. Approximately 20 Fellowships are awarded. California journalists are eligible to apply, but face steeper competition than for the California Health Journalism Fellowships.
In addition to providing five and one-half days of intensive programming on health, health care, and health policy topics, the National Fellowship offers a $2,000 stipend upon publication or broadcast of either three individual health stories or a substantive project on health. The stipend is taxable to the extent required by law. A Senior Fellow can be provided at a Fellow's request to consult about his or her project and help guide it to completion. Stories must be published or broadcast within six months of the Fellowship sessions.
Note that this Fellowship requires a week away from regular work responsibilities. All sessions must be attended. The sessions focus on national health issues that are germane to audiences across the United States. A special theme is selected for exploration each year. The topic for 2010 is the intersection between community health, health policy and the nation's growing diversity.
Applications for the National Health Journalism Fellowships must be postmarked by May 12, 2010.
The Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism will provide monetary awards of between $2,500 and $10,000 in 2010 and 2011 to as many as 10 print, broadcast and new media journalists each year to undertake ambitious investigative or explanatory journalism projects on community health issues. Unlike the National Fellowships program, which welcomes project proposals on any health topic, the Hunt Memorial Fund seeks to fund projects that will broaden the public's understanding of community health -- the impact on health of factors such as poverty, race, ethnicity, pollution, crime, and land-use and urban planning decisions. Journalists from around the country are eligible to apply.
Awards for this fund are likely to be highly competitive in 2010, the fund's second year. Applicants should expect a high level of scrutiny of their proposed projects and budgets and research them accordingly. Applicants should specify the size of the grant they are seeking and provide justification for the amount; however, the judges reserve the right to award a lesser amount than sought. Eighty percent of the amount of the grant will be paid at the outset of the project, with the remaining 20 percent to be paid upon publication or broadcast. The grant is taxable to the extent required by law. Stories must be published or broadcast by July 16, 2011.
Successful applicants for the Hunt Memorial Award are expected to attend the all-expenses-paid National Fellowship sessions in Los Angeles from July 11-16, 2010. They will receive the larger Hunt grant award, but not the $2,000 stipend for National Fellows. Applicants who are not selected to receive a Dennis A. Hunt grant are eligible to be considered for the National Fellowships.
Applications for the 2010 Dennis Hunt grants must be postmarked by May 5, 2010.
The California Health Journalism Fellowships are offered over two long weekends approximately three months apart in Los Angeles. The dates and deadline for the 2010-2011 sessions will be announced soon. Fellowship sessions focus on California health issues.
Admission to this program is limited to journalists who work for California-based media outlets. Print, broadcast and online journalists are eligible to apply. About 20 Fellowships are awarded.
Fellows are expected to complete either three individual health stories or a substantive reporting project within three months of completing the second Fellowship session. A Senior Fellow is provided to each Fellow to help guide his or her stories to completion.
The Health Journalism Fellowships program also is likely to launch all-expenses-paid New Media Trainings in fall or winter of 2010. Please check back with us for more information and sign-up for our weekly newsletter for updates.