We are proud to announce our seventh annual conference stipend program (formerly the Diversity Scholarship), aimed at providing students with an opportunity to learn from professionals in the field. This year we are once again teaming up with The Pudding, a longform data journalism publication.
ProPublica, with additional support from The Pudding, will be sponsoring need-based stipends for 25 students to attend journalism conferences in 2022. Anyone who is U.S. resident for tax purposes is eligible. All are welcome to apply. We especially encourage students from underrepresented groups in journalism — including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities — with interests in investigative and data journalism to apply. Check out last year’s scholarship recipients.
The $750 stipends will go to students who would otherwise be unable to attend conferences. If a student intends to go to a conference that ends up going virtual, they will have the opportunity to use any leftover portion of the stipend toward journalism-related expenses such as subscriptions to news publications, software, FOIA fees or equipment (think cameras, recorders, etc.).
Journalism conferences offer great opportunities for networking and professional development, especially for those just starting out in their careers.
The deadline is March 7 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. Students have the option to select a conference as part of their application. We understand that dates and formats may change, but we would still like to know which you are interested in attending. Please note that the list below is not exhaustive.
- AAJA, Asian American Journalists Association. Los Angeles, California, July 27-30.
- AHCJ, Association of Health Care Journalists. Austin, Texas, April 28-May 1.
- IRE, Investigative Reporters and Editors. Denver, Colorado, and virtual, June 23-26.
- JAWS, Journalism and Women Symposium. Austin, Texas, Sept. 8-11.
- NABJ, National Association of Black Journalists. Las Vegas, Nevada, Aug. 3-7.
- NAHJ, National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Las Vegas, Nevada, Aug. 3-7.
- NAJA, Native American Journalists Association. Phoenix, Aug. 25-27.
- NLGJA, Association of LGBTQ Journalists. Chicago, Illinois, Sept. 8-11.
- NPPA, National Press Photographers Association (Northern Short Course). Virtual, March 31-April 2.
- ONA, Online News Association. Los Angeles, California, Sept. 21-24.
- RNA, Religion News Association. Bethesda, Maryland, March 24-26.
- SND, Society for News Design. Location and dates TBD.
- SRCCON, organized by OpenNews. Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 22-23.
- MVJ, Military Veterans in Journalism. Washington, D.C., October, exact dates TBD.
- LSM, Latino Media Summit. New York City and virtual, June 3-4.
Every year, we share what ProPublica is doing to increase the diversity of our newsroom and of journalism as a whole. These stipends are a small but important step to help student journalists from underrepresented communities take advantage of everything these conferences offer.
High school, college and graduate students are welcome to apply. You must be a student at the time of application, but it’s OK if you’re graduating this spring. Students currently in a gap year are not eligible.
Questions about the application process? Want to contribute to our stipend fund to send more students to these conferences? Get in touch at [email protected].
