The Persephone Miel Fellowship is intended to assist journalists from countries outside the United States and Western Europe in working on ambitious reporting projects and delivering their work to a more extensive worldwide reach.
The Pulitzer Center oversees the Persephone Miel Fellowship, which was established with Internews, a media development NGO. Those journalists with limited access to other fellowships and whose work is not usually disseminated abroad benefit from the Fellowship. Persephone Miel, a former senior advisor at Internews who dedicated her life to advancing the work of journalists worldwide, is the recipient of the Fellowship. Miel fellowships entail reporting from the applicant's home nation or following migratory communities to new places.
Eligibility
The Persephone Miel Fellowships are offered to journalists, writers, photographers, radio producers, filmmakers, freelancers, and media professionals outside the United States and Western Europe willing to report from their home country. Applicants should be able to communicate in English freely. Journalists from developing nations, particularly women, are highly encouraged to apply.
Selection
The choice of candidates is the responsibility of the Pulitzer Center. Rather than individual field reports, the program is looking for projects investigating systemic challenges in the applicant's home country and presenting an overarching thesis. As proven in their work samples, the significance of the proposed topic of the applicant's work will be used as the main eligibility criteria.
Terms of grant
The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting will award a $5,000 grant for a reporting project on global issues and areas, focusing on concerns that have gone underrepresented or underreported in the mass press. Specific grant terms are negotiated during the application process, given the scale of proposed work and expected outcomes. A part of financing is paid out when the appropriate materials are received at the beginning of the project, and the second half is paid out when the main work is submitted for publication or broadcast.
The Pulitzer Center also arranges for the fellow to be supervised by a journalist from their worldwide network of grantees.
The Center collaborates with fellowship grantees to distribute their work across worldwide media channels to reach the broadest possible audience. Print, photography, and video projects with multimedia components are greatly welcomed.
Pulitzer Center
Through direct support for outstanding journalism and special education and public engagement programs, the Pulitzer Center raises awareness of underreported global challenges.
The Pulitzer Center is the biggest single source of funding for global enterprise reporting—and the only one combining this reporting into extensive educational programs that broaden the impact of the reporting and make participants and the general public engage directly on the problems. As a result, the Center has been doing a lot of reporting and outreach on themes including land rights, climate change, global health, fragile states, and women and children.
The Center is bringing attention to the linked nature of the world's most pressing issues and pointing to potential solutions. They contribute to global public-interest journalism in a way that few other organizations can: by engaging large audiences in in-depth reporting and inspiring the next generation to appreciate trustworthy news and cross-cultural understanding.
The program funds approximately 200 reporting projects each year, collaborating with more than 150 news organizations. Here are some of the prominent news organizations that the Center is collaborating with:
- The New York Times
- PBS NewsHour
- The New Yorker
- BuzzFeed News
- El Pas
- Tempo
- Agência Publica
- BBC
The program fundings have a growing emphasis on regional and local outlets to ensure that they reach truly diverse audiences. The Center hosts over 700 events with K-12 schools, universities, and the general public every year, both in-person and online. The Center has deep partnerships with over 35 colleges and institutions through their Campus Consortium, including on-campus journalist visits and student reporting grants. Every year, it provides $2 million in funding to journalists through direct donations and participation in the Center's educational activities.
Awards and Impact
The projects supported by the Pulitzer center have won many awards, including yet not limited to:
- 5 Pulitzer Prizes
- 3 Peabody Awards
- 7 Robert F. Kennedy Awards
- 11 Overseas Press Club Awards
- 4 George Polk Awards
- 3 Sigma Awards for data journalism
- Best online reporting honors from the National Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Press Foundation
More than 50 prizes and accolades were given to Pulitzer Center-supported projects in 2020, including Peabody, Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, Scripps Howard, ASME Ellie, Overseas Press Club (OPC), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and Online News Association (ONA).
The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting fills a significant gap in reporting the most pressing concerns. According to editors and journalists, these kinds of stories would not be possible without the help of the Pulitzer Center. Their aim has never been more important: to promote truthful, responsible journalism and to do all possible to engage people from all walks of life, regardless of political affiliation or class, race, or religion.
Fellows works
The Center values each member of its fellowship programs, which is why even after graduation, they continue collaboration with each other. Below are presented three works of Persephone Miel Fellowships alumni. Each of the works arises from the author's background, the issues they were facing, and sheds light upon the happening.
Amber Lin, a Persephone Miel Fellow of 2019, and her Interview with Malaysia's former Deputy Defense Minister Liew Chin Tong. (https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/interview-malaysias-former-deputy-defense-minister-liew-chin-tong)
Hsiuwen Liu is a 2020 fellow, and her article The Lingering Trauma of Hong Kong's Exiled Protesters (https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/lingering-trauma-hong-kongs-exiled-protesters) exposes the hardships and horrible experiences that the nation had to undergo.
Mentioned above and many other examples are proof of the impact the Fellowship carries and the importance of shedding light on mainstream news and different nationalities and the issues they face professionally.
Final Thoughts
With that being said, if you have a newsworthy project, potential and are eligible for the program, you should start considering applying for the program. It would be beneficial to your personal career growth and an outstanding contribution to the news industry.
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