Global Health Reporting Fellowships at Harvard University

Overview

The Nieman Fellowships in Global Health Reporting are awarded annually to two journalists who are committed to global health reporting and whose news organizations share that commitment. One fellowship is given to a journalist who is a U.S. citizen and one to a non-U.S. citizen.

During the Nieman year, the Global Health Fellows pursue a concentrated course of study at Harvard's School of Public Health and have access to faculty and courses across the university.

At the conclusion of the academic year at Harvard, the fellows will begin a period of journalistic fieldwork in a developing country that may last for up to four months. The fieldwork, which is funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, is intended to provide an intensive learning and reporting experience in countries with the most pressing problems in global health.

How to Apply

Overview
You can apply using either the online application or download the appropriate paper application. Please review the following steps to ensure the complete and timely submission of your application:

1. Make sure you are eligible to apply.
2. Decide which fellowship you will apply for.
3. Complete either the online or paper version of the application.
4. Submit the required work samples.
5. Ask four people to write letters of recommendation.
6. Meet the application deadlines.

Deadlines

U.S. and Global Health Reporting Fellowships: Applications must be submitted on or before Jan. 31, 2012.

International Fellowships: Applications must be submitted on or before Dec. 1, 2011 (except applicants for South Africa and Canada Fellowships).

Required with the Application

Two Essays
We require two essays: a Personal Statement and a Proposal for Study at Harvard. These essays are very important parts of your application. We carefully evaluate them to understand your accomplishments and potential. Both can be uploaded with the online application.

We are particularly interested in examples and details that show you have a significant capacity for growth and leadership. We also want to know specifically how a year at Harvard will help make you a better journalist.

• Personal Statement: 1,000 words or less that describes your journalistic experience, career plans and aspirations. Why is this the time to have a transformative experience away from your work in journalism? What experiences in life and in journalism have shaped you? What personal and journalistic values and intellectual interests have influenced your aspirations to seek this fellowship? What motivates your commitment to journalistic excellence? What are your aspirations for your life ahead in journalism?
• Proposal for Study at Harvard: 500 words or less that describes how you plan to spend a year at Harvard. What are your thoughts about an academic concentration or field of study? It is not necessary to specify course titles, but please identify the resources at Harvard that would serve your aspirations for your continuing work in journalism.

Work Samples
Work samples can be uploaded with the online application. Files with the following extensions are accepted: .pdf, .txt, .rtf, .doc, .wps, .lwp, .wks and .wpd. You can also upload a summary page that describes your samples.

DVD’s, audio/video files, photographs or samples that exist only on paper should be sent to the address below, where we will add them to any material you submit with the online application:

Nieman Foundation for Journalism
Attention: 2013 Fellowship Application
One Francis Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138-2009
U.S.A.

International applicants: most, if not all of your samples should have been published or aired between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 15, 2011. One sample can be from before Dec. 1, 2010. (See exception for Television and Documentary journalists.)

U.S. and Global Health applicants: most, if not all of your samples should have been published or aired between Jan. 1, 2011, and Jan. 30, 2012. One sample can be from before Jan. 1, 2011. (See exception for Television and Documentary journalists.)

Please note that the Nieman Global Health Reporting Fellowship includes a period of up to four months of reporting in a developing country at the end of the academic year. This fieldwork is funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

If you routinely work in more than one medium, you may submit samples from each as long as you follow the guidelines below.

• Any printed samples, summaries and synopses submitted must be formatted to fit 8” x 11” (21.5 x 28 cm) sheets of paper.
• Your name should be included in the upper right corner of every item you submit (or on the backs of photographs).
• Do not send complete newspapers or magazines, books, scrapbooks, unpublished manuscripts, works-in-progress, irreplaceable material, elaborate presentations (e.g. spiral bindings or report covers) or “creative” displays (i.e. video presentations of still photographs).
• Please clearly date all your samples and do not send more than the requested number.
• If your samples are not in English, please include a summary of their contents in English. Supporting materials must also be in English.

We will not accept work that does not meet these criteria. Submitted materials will not be returned.

Print Journalists

• Writers: Submit five (5) samples of published work. (Each byline counts as one sample.) If you send stories from a series, include a brief outline of the other stories in the series.
• Editors: Submit a statement describing your job. (This is in addition to your two essays.) You may include copies of published work along with a description of your role in these samples. For published work, follow the instructions for writers above.
• Photographers: Submit a portfolio with eight (8) samples of your work. These can include original prints, tear sheets, or a combination of both. Photographs must be 8” x 10” (20.5 x 25.5 cm) and may be in color or black and white. Do not mount your photos.

Broadcast Journalists

• Television and Documentary Filmmakers: Submit one DVD or CD with no more than 30 minutes of work. (If necessary, we will accept a VHS videotape.) Include a written synopsis of each work with a brief description of your involvement in each piece.
  
  If you work on programs that are longer than 30 minutes and feel an edited version isn’t representative, you may submit a sample of no more than 60 minutes. Your samples must have been broadcast or shown in a public venue within the past two years.
  
  We are flexible on the length of samples and the requirement that they be broadcast in the last two years. We realize that it is sometimes difficult to edit long pieces and understand the long lead time that goes into making documentary films.
• Radio: Submit one CD with work totaling 30 minutes. Include a written synopsis that indicates, by counter number or other measure, where each sample begins and briefly describes your involvement with each piece.

Online Journalists

• Submit samples equivalent to five (5) print articles or 30 minutes of programming. Also include a description of your job, what your involvement was with each sample, and indicate if each sample was created uniquely for the Web or adapted from another media format.
  
  Your samples must be journalistic in nature and demonstrate that your job involves news gathering, writing, editing or producing.

Letters of Recommendation
Four (4) confidential letters of recommendation are required. These confidential letters should indicate how your abilities and experience make you an outstanding candidate for a Nieman Fellowship, and should describe your qualifications, your potential for professional growth and leadership, and the impact a fellowship might have on your career in journalism.

Letters of recommendation can be submitted via the online application and/or postal mail (to the Nieman Foundation at the address below).

Recommendations should be written by:

• Two from individuals familiar with your work who can comment on your journalistic abilities and potential for growth and leadership.
• One from your immediate supervisor with an appraisal of your qualifications
• One from your organization’s publisher, editor, manager or director supporting your application and granting you a nine-month leave of absence if you receive a fellowship

Note: Global Health applicants should request a letter granting a leave of absence for at least 13 months to cover both nine months of academic work at Harvard and three to four months of field work at the conclusion of the academic year. This letter should include an expression of intent to utilize, as much as practical, the applicant’s Nieman experience in covering global health issues when they return to work.

For freelance journalists, we require letters from four individuals familiar with your work.

Leave of Absence Letter
The Nieman Foundation recognizes that news organizations are occasionally reluctant to grant leaves of absence to valuable staff members for long-term fellowships when staffing levels are tight. However, it is our hope that news executives recognize that the knowledge, broader perspective, personal development and leadership skills fellows bring back at the end of the Nieman year will benefit the newsroom.

We encourage news managers to work with fellowship applicants to help them shape their aspirations for a year at Harvard. We also encourage potential Nieman applicants to be upfront with their news organization’s leadership about their intentions, whether or not a supporting letter is forthcoming. In the absence of such a letter of support, however, a candidate is still eligible to apply for a Nieman Fellowship.

Letters should be mailed directly to the Nieman Foundation at the address below and postmarked by the following dates:

• International applicants: Dec. 1.
• U.S. and Global Health applicants: Jan. 31

Nieman Foundation for Journalism
Attention: 2013 Fellowship Application
One Francis Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138-2009
U.S.A.

For more information about the application process, send an e-mail tonieman_applications@harvard.edu.



Applications from Global Health candidates are reviewed by a committee of Harvard faculty and news professionals, chaired by the Nieman curator. Finalists are invited to Cambridge in late April for interviews as the final step in selection.

After fellows finish their fieldwork, they are expected to produce material based on this experience and their academic studies. This work may take the form of stories, a case study or a handbook of best practices related to reporting on health issues in a developing country.

Contact Detail

For more information on the Nieman Fellowships in Global Health Reporting, contact Stefanie Friedhoff at: stefanie_friedhoff@harvard.edu.

The deadline for application submission is Jan. 31.

Source: http://nieman.harvard.edu/NiemanFoundation/NiemanFellowships/HowToApply.aspx


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