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We are now taking applications for the 2021-22 Richard C. Longworth Media Fellowships. The application deadline is May 10, 2021.
The Richard C. Longworth Media Fellowships, a collaboration with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, aims to promote international reporting by Chicago and Midwestern journalists.
The fellowships are made possible by a grant from The Clinton Family Fund to honor Richard C. Longworth, a former Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent and now Distinguished Fellow at the Chicago Council. $10,000 fellowships will be awarded each year for the next two years to journalists focusing on global issues that affect Chicago and Midwestern readers and viewers.
“Financial pressures have hit Chicago and Midwestern media, especially newspapers, hard,” Longworth said. “One result has been the virtual abandonment of foreign reporting, at a time when foreign events—in China, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia—have an increasing impact on our lives."
“Once, correspondents told local readers and viewers what the news from abroad meant to them,” he said. “Now, not one newspaper or other outlet in our region has even one foreign correspondent on its staff, and so this local tie is lost. Our democracy depends on an informed electorate, which fails when nobody is doing the informing.”
Eligibility: The Richard C. Longworth Fellowships are open to print, broadcast and online journalists based in Chicago or elsewhere in the Midwest. Staff journalists as well as free-lancers are eligible to apply. Field reporting should be from international locations and topics must be timely and of clear interest and importance to Chicago and Midwestern audiences.
Distribution: Proposed projects must include a credible plan for broad dissemination of the resulting work in Chicago or other Midwestern news media (print, online and/or broadcast). Both staffers and free-lancers should be able to demonstrate committed interest from editors and/or producers. For freelancers, the credibility of a distribution plan is generally most evident in an applicant's track record working with the listed outlets. Please do not have editors send letters simply stating they would consider the work. Letters from editors and/or producers who have worked with you in the past, and are interested in working with you again, are encouraged.
Applications must include the following:
- A description of the proposed project and timeline in no more than 250 words.
- A preliminary budget estimate, including a basic breakdown of costs for travel, ground transportation, lodging, meals, visas and local reporting partner/translator fees.
- Distribution plan.
- Three samples of published work, either print or broadcast.
- Three professional references. These can be either contact information, or letters of recommendation. The latter is encouraged when letters from interested producers or editors are available.
- A copy of your curriculum vitae.
Applications may also include a more detailed description of project, but this will be considered as optional supplement only. The most important part of the submission is the 250-word summary.