Knight-Ridder Offers Six-Figure Fellowships

Posted on | November 28, 2006 | No Comments

The Knight Foundation, founded by John S. Knight of Knight-Ridder newspaper fame, is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for mid-career professional journalists, the Knight Fellowship.  Knight has partnered with Stanford University to provide a 9-month (September to June) residential fellowship program (live on/off campus in Palo Alto) designed to help mid-career professionals to improve the quality of news and information reaching the public through the news media: print, broadcast and cyberspace.

The Knight Fellowship provides Fellows with a rich package: $55,000 stipend (paid in 10 monthly installments), up to $11,500 for housing, up to $6,000 per child under 5 for childcare, up to $9,178 for health insurance and a $1,000 book allowance. The program also pays Stanford tuition for each fellow.  Married fellows with children receive maximum financial benefits.  See the full benefits schedule.

And if that’s not enough, there is no pre-fab curriculum (journalists are free to build their own curriculum) and it’s up to you whether you want to do the homework (Fellows audit the classes and do not receive academic credit).  And, spouses and domestic partners may attend Stanford classes as well!
Fellows spend the academic year, from mid-September to mid-June, on campus, taking courses in all departments, including such professional schools as Law, Medicine, and Business.

Candidates outline how they would use their year at Stanford – and how it would help them in their work when they return to their news organizations – as part of the application. Once they get here, they use faculty, staff and the advice of former fellows to find the combination of courses that works best for them.

Most fellows do all or most of the work in some classes, as a way of challenging themselves, but the decision is up to them. And if no regular course meets their specific needs, they often follow self-directed reading programs, with the guidance of key faculty members.

ELIGIBILITY

• Applicants must have at least seven years of full-time professional experience
• There are no educational prerequisites. No college degree is required.
• Applicants must be currently working full-time as journalists: employees of newspapers, wire services, television or radio news departments, Web sites, magazines covering news, commentary, or public affairs, and full-time freelancers.
• Eligible journalists include those who write or edit news, commentary, or editorials; critics and reviewers, photojournalists, editorial cartoonists and supervising editors, anchors, and producers.
• Journalism business and management executives whose decisions affect editorial quality – for example, publishers, general managers, news directors and station managers – or who are likely to be in such positions are also eligible. Such applicants must be committed to improving editorial quality in their news organizations, and not merely in improving a particular business skill or specialty.
• Professionals working in public information or public relations jobs, for trade and house newsletters or magazines, for government agencies, or as teachers, are not eligible.
• Fellows must agree to spend the academic terms in residence at Stanford, to participate in the seminars and activities of the fellowship program, to do no professional work during their fellowship year, and to return to their news organization at the end of the fellowship.

APPLYING

• Download the Application
• The application deadline for U.S. Fellows is Feb. 1, 2007.
• Candidates write two essays: an intellectual autobiography, and a statement of how they propose to spend the fellowship year, indicating specific areas of study.
• Applicants must submit a letter from their employer endorsing their application and granting a leave of absence if chosen for a fellowship.
• Three letters of recommendation, including one from the applicant’s immediate supervisor, are required as well as work samples.
• Each application is read independently by three reviewers – the Program Director, the Deputy Director, and a third experienced journalist. From these, 25 to 30 semifinalists are chosen to be interviewed at Stanford. Final evaluations are done by the Program Committee, composed of senior Stanford faculty members and prominent journalists.
• Mail completed applications to:

JOHN S. KNIGHT FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM
Building 120, Room 424
Stanford,CA 94305-2050
Email: knight-info@lists.stanford.edu

Phone: (650) 723-4937

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