The Michener Awards Foundation offers three fellowships, two in support of investigative reporting and one dedicated to the enrichment of journalism education.
Each fellowship is for $40,000 and up to $5,000 in accountable expenses.
The Michener-Deacon Fellowships for Investigative Reporting
The Michener-Deacon Fellowships, supported by TD Bank Group, aim to encourage excellence in public service journalism. They are named after the late Roland Michener and the late Paul Deacon, a senior media executive, former Michener Awards Foundation president and generous benefactor.
The fellowships are intended to encourage excellence in journalism that serves the public interest through improvements in public policy, ethical standards, corporate governance or the lives of Canadians.
Applicants are expected to undertake projects that aspire to the criteria of the annual Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism with its emphasis on identifiable benefits for the public good, improvements in public policy, ethical standards, corporate governance or the lives of Canadians.
The fellowships are available to mature journalists with at least five years’ experience and to a recognized Canadian news organization to complete a reporting project.
Proposals are expected to deal with subjects of direct interest to Canadians. Individual applicants must be Canadian citizens who are active in Canadian journalism. They do not have to be resident in Canada at the time of application.
The Michener – L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship for Journalism Education
The Michener – L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship for Journalism Education, supported by BMO Financial Group, is dedicated to the advancement and enrichment of the education of Canadian journalists and journalism students.
The fellowship is named for the late L. Richard O’Hagan, distinguished press secretary to Prime Ministers Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau and longtime senior vice president at Bank of Montreal. He began his career as a reporter at the former Toronto Telegram.
Employed and freelance journalists with five years’ experience, media organizations and faculty members of Canadian post-secondary institutions are eligible to apply for a project of up to one year.
The fellowship is open to teams of up to four people (or organizations including journalism schools and media organizations) including at least one journalism educator from a post-secondary institution and one experienced journalist on the team.
The winning project will expand the knowledge of newsroom products, processes and practices. For example, newsroom practices in digital/multiplatform storytelling that capture working journalists workflow to create new teaching materials, or the gamification of ethics cases to engage learners. The funds may be used for, but are not limited to travel and equipment expenses, course releases, work leave, or teaching assistants.