RNS/IA Religion Journalism Fellowship (United States)

This fellowship serves to develop future religion news journalists by deepening their understanding of religious expression in individual lives and diverse communities.

This year, fellows will again dive deeply into the world of religion news through a series of mentorships with senior journalists, workshops, journalist panels, editorial meetings, tutoring on critical religion resources, and two fully paid trips to the Religion News Association Conference and a writing workshop in Chicago.

Funding Information

• The fellows will be awarded a $4000 stipend and expected to report and write at least one feature religion story per month, which will be published on the RNS website and the Interfaith America Magazine and will receive a fellowship certificate upon completion.
• The fellowship runs from September 2024 to May 2025.

What are the fellowship expectations? 

• Fellows will pitch stories during monthly editorial meetings and work under the guidance of RNS editors to edit and publish them. The stories will be co-published on the RNS and Interfaith America websites. Fellows are expected to produce at least one in-depth feature story per month.
• To receive the fellowship certificate, fellows must have published at least 4 feature stories by the end of the fellowship and attended all monthly editorial meetings, the two in-person convenings, and guest speaker sessions.

Who is eligible to apply? 

• Applications are open to all journalism graduates who have completed their degree in the past three years, and to freelance reporters who may not have a journalism degree but have at least a year of relevant reporting experience. This fellowship is currently only open to people living in the United States.

For more information, visit Interfaith America.