Applications open for Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship

Applications are now being accepted for the Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard for the 2017-18 academic year. The Canadian fellowship is funded by the Martin Wise Goodman Trust in the name of the former president of the Toronto Star. 

Nieman fellowships are awarded to up to 12 American and 12 international journalists each year. One Canadian is eligible. 

The one-year sabbatical, covering tuition, stipend and medical expenses, is worth approximately $75,000; the Canadian award is made to a successful applicant every second year, joining with up to 24 mid-career journalists working in print, broadcast, digital and audiovisual media who receive one of the annual Niemans. 

All applicants for academic-year Nieman Fellowships, including freelancers, must be working journalists with at least five years of full-time media experience.   The fellowships are for two full semesters at Harvard, auditing classes at the university (and other universities, including MIT and Tufts) and taking part in seminars, master classes and conferences designed to strengthen their professional skills and leadsership capabilities. 

Applications by the individual journalist must be made by means of an online application portal. The deadline is January 6, 2017. 

Recent winners were Stephen Maher of the National Post, Laura-Julie Perrault of La Presse, David Skok of Global News and Jana Juginovic of CTV News. 

Canadian Nieman fellowship offers journalist study and reflection in a year at Harvard

Every other year, a Canadian Nieman fellowship is offered to a working journalist to spend a year at Harvard University. The specifically Canadian award is financed by a trust established in the name of Martin Wise Goodman, the late president of the Toronto Star, who was a Nieman Fellow himself. 

(The Nieman Foundation for Journalism welcomes up to 12 foreign and 12 American  journalists to Harvard. Since 1938, there have been more than 1,400 fellows. The fellowships were established in the name of  Lucius W. Nieman, the founder of the Milwaukee Journal.) 

The Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University provides a mid-career opportunity to study and broaden intellectual horizons during the academic year (September to June) and covers the cost of attending Harvard University and a stipend for living expenses. There are no educational prerequisites; nor do fellows receive either course credits or a degree for work done during the Nieman year. Application is made by the individual journalist. 

The 2013 winner was Laura-Julie Perreault, a staff reporter at La Presse.

The deadline for applications is February 2, 2015. For further information about qualifications and to obtain application forms for the Canadian Nieman, go to http://canadiannieman.blogspot.ca/   

For further information on the Nieman program, go to http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/

Nominations now being received for Gzowski fellowship for literacy

Nominations are now being accepted for the Peter Gzowski Life Literacy Fellowship in honour of the late beloved broadcaster, magazine and newspaper editor and writer. 

The fellowship is administered by ABC Life Literacy Canada and provides one journalist with $3,000 to research and develop a story about adult literacy in Canada. The 2010 winner of the first fellowship was Susan Quinlan of the Prairie Post West newspaper (you can read her story here). Interested writers can find more information about the submissions and submit their story idea here.

Gzowski was managing editor and later editor of Maclean's magazine, entertainment editor of the Toronto Star, editor of the Star Weekly. He become best known for hosting CBC Radio's This Country in the Morning and its successor Morningside. 

Heavily invested in the literacy movement, which seeks to address the fact that four out of 10 Canadian adults struggle with low literacy, Gzowski founded the PGI Golf Tournaments for Literacy in 1986, vowing to raise $1 million; to date the tournaments have raised more than $10 million net, one of the most successful fundraisers for literacy in Canada. 

Time for a magazine writer to win this, we think.  Lots of time to come up with a good idea; applications close on Friday, August 19.

Fellowship being created to honour memory of Toronto Star national affairs columnist Jim Travers

Families, friends, colleagues and admirers have banded together to create a fellowship in memory of Jim Travers, the Toronto Star columnist, according to a posting on J-Source.ca. He died suddenly March 3 from complications after surgery and his unexpected death (and their admiration for his writing and journalism) galvanized people to create the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship. It will give an annual award of $25,000 to cover travel, reporting and research expenses as well as a stipend. 

Travers was a Southam News correspondent in Africa and the Middle East, general manager of the Southam news service, editor of the Ottawa Citizen, executive managing editor of the Toronto Star and for the past decade the Star's national affairs columnist. 

A seven-member steering committee  has set its sights on raising $500,000 that would endow the award in perpetuity; the first award will be made in 2012 and will be administered by Carleton University through its school of journalism and communication in the faculty of public affairs.

Details about donations to the fellowship and about the award can be found here.

ABC Life Literacy Canada makes $2,000 fellowship available to create an adult literacy story

Nobody was more a passionate advocate of great magazine journalism and engaging with audiences than the late Peter Gzowski. He's now remembered as a beloved host on CBC radio, but it must be remembered that he was also a prolific magazine writer and editor, notably as editor of Star Weekly and as editor of Maclean's.

In 1993, ABC Life Literacy Canada founded an award of merit to honour his services to and advocacy of literacy. To date, the golf tournaments that he founded have raised more than $10 million, making it the most successful literacy fundraiser in Canada.

Now, the prize has been succeeded by The Peter Gzowski Life Literacy Fellowship, with financial support of $2,000 to one journalist to research and develop a story on adult literacy in Canada. Detailed guidelines and criteria are available online. The deadline for application for the fellowship is August 27, 2010.