The Poynter Institute and Stand Together Fellowships are proud to welcome 60 early-career journalists to the prestigious Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship program. The yearlong fellowship kicks off in August.
This class of impressive news professionals includes reporters, editors, photographers, photojournalists and audience producers from news organizations across the country. They represent an array of newsrooms, including The Oaklandside, the Miami Herald, The Texas Tribune, Underscore News and WBEZ Public Radio.
The joint program is in its fifth year. Fellows accepted into the fellowship are placed in full-time, paying roles at news organizations or participate in their current roles. The fellowship pays 60% of their salary. As part of the fellowship, they’ll receive training to develop cross-disciplinary skills and accelerate their careers in journalism by connecting with seasoned mentors and award-winning journalists on a weekly basis and through three in-person events throughout the year. Their robust, real-world curriculum is led by Poynter’s Kristen Hare and Stand Together Fellowship’s Benét J. Wilson.
Hare, a Poynter faculty member who has covered the local news industry for the last decade, believes the fellowship offers a missing piece in the work to support and sustain local journalism.
“Among what’s missing in local newsrooms right now are people who have the time and resources to help early-career journalists learn both the hard and durable skills you have to have for a long career in this industry,” said Hare, who spent the first 10 years of her career in local newsrooms in Missouri and currently writes feature obituaries for the Tampa Bay Times, which Poynter owns. “This program builds up journalists’ skills through a focus on what they’ll need to do their jobs and what they’ll need to stay in this industry. We can’t fix all the issues facing local news. We can prepare journalists for how to face it and thrive.”
Wilson, a veteran aviation journalist, mentor and a past board member of organizations including the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists, served for three years as an adviser and mentor to the program before joining as Stand Together Fellowship’s director last year.
“The press is the only job specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. With the rapid changes going on in the news industry, it can be difficult for early-career journalists to find their place and be successful,” said Wilson, who has mentored and helped hundreds of journalists during her 37-year career. “We give our fellows the time, training and resources they need to not only survive, but thrive in newsrooms.”
A signature feature of the fellowship is the innovation project fellows work on throughout the year, with the goal of building something that makes their community, their newsroom or our industry better.
Projects from the 2022-23 cohort include a guide for creating a mutual aid network to support journalists after layoffs, a series of projects that help people get to know their communities and guidance for introverted journalists.
Justin Baxley is a 2022-2023 fellow and the digital content manager at 13WMAZ in Macon, Georgia. He was one of two winners of the fellowship’s top award for his innovation project, an initiative to instruct journalists on how to make contact with victims of tragedies, something he was uniquely situated to do.
“I’ve gone through one myself. My dad was murdered. It’s still unsolved,” he said. “We had five phone calls within an hour of finding out about my dad from local journalists. Now I’m being traumatized by the thing that I do for a living. That was really hard, and I know that if I was treated that way, all these other families are also being treated that way. What Poynter and the fellowship really pushed me to do was take that idea and actually go and do it.”
Poynter-Koch Fellows have also gone on to win major awards. The Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for Breaking News Reporting, recognizing “its urgent yet sweeping coverage of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex.” Included in the winning submission were six former fellows.
“By focusing on local news, I think the fellowship helps young journalists really think about the audiences they’re serving,” said Omar L. Gallaga, a freelance journalist, Poynter adjunct instructor and the fellowship’s lead adviser. “We try to give them the tools to not only improve their skills, but to take on new projects and practices that benefit their newsrooms and their communities.”
Other advisers include Caitlin Dewey, enterprise reporter at The Buffalo News; veteran journalist Gil Asakawa; Katie Hawkins-Gaar, freelance writer and co-founder of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media; Chris Sheridan, professor at Wake Forest University and Poynter adjunct; and new this year as an adviser, Marlon A. Walker, managing editor for The Marshall Project.
Fellows also benefit from guest instructors who help bring the training experiences to life. This year, they include conflict experts Amanda Ripley and Hélène Biandudi-Hofer; WURD president and CEO Sara Lomax-Reese; data and digital journalism professor Mike Reilley; and audience expert Hannah Wise.
“Stand Together Fellowships is ecstatic to welcome these 61 talented and innovative journalists to the 2023-24 Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship,” said Hugh Cherry, managing director, Stand Together Fellowships. “They each bring the unique perspectives, experiences, and passions needed to tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities facing their communities, their newsrooms, and the industry. The free press is a cornerstone of a free and open society, and we’re proud to invest in its future leaders.”
Congratulations to the newest class of Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellows:
- Alexa Jurado, news reporter, The State (Columbia, South Carolina)
- Alexandra Brizee, criminal justice and breaking news reporter, Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho)
- Anna Lynn Winfrey, politics reporter, Pueblo (Colorado) Chieftain
- Annemarie Cuccia, accountability reporter, Street Sense Media (Washington, D.C.)
- Beck Salgado, breaking news/ business reporter, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Journal Sentinel
- Brayden Garcia, service journalism reporter, Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
- Bria Overs, finance reporter, Word In Black (Washington, D.C.)
- Brittany McGee, business, health and engagement reporter; Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer
- Carly Sauvageau, general assignment reporter, The (Las Vegas) Nevada Independent
- Catherine Wheeler, St. Lawrence Valley reporter, North Country Public Radio (Canton, New York)
- Chloe Jones, courts and crime reporter, San Luis Obispo (California) Tribune
- Crystal Elescano, Latino Lab reporter, Record-Journal (Meriden, Connecticut)
- Eda Uzunlar, reporter, WSHU Public Radio (Westport, Connecticut)
- Eli Hartman, photography fellow, Texas Tribune (Austin, Texas)
- Elisabeth Hadjis, editor-in-chief, The Scope (Boston)
- Elizabeth Myong, arts access producer/reporter, The Dallas Morning News and KERA
- Ellen Gerst, general assignment reporter, Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press
- Emma Williams, assistant audience and engagement editor, The Atlantic
- Eva Herscowitz, investigative reporting fellow, The (Charleston, South Carolina) Post and Courier
- Haley Jones, general assignment reporter, The Lancaster (South Carolina) News
- Halie Kines, local government reporter, Centre Daily Times (State College, Pennsylvania)
- Hanisha Harjani, investigative reporter, The Fuller Project
- Hanna Holthaus, watchdog reporter, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union
- Isabella Crowley, reporter/photographer, La Grande (Oregon) Observer
- Jared Brown, reporter, KNKX Public Radio (Tacoma, Washington)
- Jasmine Fernández, reporter, The Palm Beach (Florida) Post
- Jasmine Vaughn-Hall, neighborhood and community reporter, The Baltimore Banner
- José Luis Martínez, data reporter, The (Hartford) Connecticut Mirror
- Joshua Bay, staff reporter, The 74
- Kata Stevens, audio producer, Local Impact McClatchy
- Kelsey Harrell, engagement producer, Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Florida)
- Kevin Reynolds, BYU beat reporter, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Korie Dean, higher education reporter, The (Raleigh, North Carolina) News & Observer
- Kylie Cooper, photojournalist, The Baltimore Banner
- Laura S. Diaz, engagement reporter, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California)
- Lindsey Banks, staff writer, The Charlotte (North Carolina) Ledger
- Loumay Alesali, multimedia producer, The (Columbia, South Carolina) State
- Mary Helene Hall, investigative reporter, AL.com
- Mathew Miranda, Latino communities reporter, The Sacramento (California) Bee
- Melissa Montalvo, Latino communities reporter, Fresno (California) Bee
- Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, breaking news and public safety reporter, Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune
- Nika Bartoo-Smith, indigenous affairs reporter, Underscore News
- Nina Joss, community reporter, Colorado Community Media (Englewood, Colorado)
- Parker Yamasaki, general/culture reporter, The (Denver) Colorado Sun
- Rachel Showalter, visual journalist/housing reporter, The Bellingham (Washington) Herald
- Raisa Habersham, accountability reporter, Miami Herald
- Roselyn Romero, reporter, The (Oakland, California) Oaklandside
- Ryan Sun, photojournalist, Associated Press
- Sal Ruiz, program officer, The Poynter Institute, MediaWise (St. Petersburg, Florida)
- Sara Maloney, editor/reporter, Eudora (Kansas) Times
- Sarah Stark, podcast producer, The Rundown Podcast, WBEZ, Chicago
- Sean Hemmersmeier, business reporter, Las Vegas Review-Journal
- Sheridan Hendrix, Higher Education Reporter, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
- Taylor Six, criminal justice reporter, Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader
- Ted Clifford, breaking news reporter, The (Columbia, South Carolina) State
- Teri Henderson, arts and culture editor, Baltimore Beat
- Timothy Carlin, civic engagement reporter, Houston Landing
- Tonia Hill, multimedia reporter, The TRiiBE, Chicago
- Tréa Lavery, enterprise reporter, MassLive, Boston
- Yanqi Xu, reporter, Flatwater Free Press (Omaha, Nebraska)
