The MJ Bear Fellowship honors young journalists who are creative and ambitious thinkers. 

We welcome applications from journalists under the age of 30 from anywhere in the world. Applicants must be working journalists; students are not eligible. 

What the Fellowship offers

The fellowship includes professional mentoring and skills development, as well as a scholarship to attend the Online News Association conference, this year in New Orleans, Sept. 10-13. The ONA25 focus areas are AI, climate, and resilience. We welcome projects on any topic, but if you are working on these themes, this might be a particularly good year for you to apply. 

The scholarship covers round-trip travel to ONA25, lodging at the Hyatt New Orleans for up to five nights, and a meal stipend during your travel.

How to apply

The application is divided into three questions that follow a basic structure for a good pitch: why this, why now, and why me.  In “why this,” describe a project, experiment, or idea that you’ve worked on or want to work on. In “why now,” explain why this is the right moment to get a boost from the fellowship. In “why me,” you will be asked for a personal statement about why you want to do this. 

Additional details are shared in each section. Applications must be submitted in English. 

The deadline to apply for the 2025 program is June 22, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET (3:59 UTC).

If you have questions, please send an email to mjbearfellowship@journalists.org.

— The MJ Bear Fellowship Committee