About
The Michener Awards Foundation offers two fellowships, one 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 expenses.
The Michener – Deacon Fellowship for Investigative Reporting
The Michener – Deacon Fellowship is 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.
Eligibility
- Applicants are expected to undertake projects that aspire to the criteria of the annual Michener Award for 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 journalists with at least five years’ experience to complete a reporting project with a recognized Canadian news organization.
- 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 is dedicated to the advancement and enrichment of the education of Canadian journalists and journalism students, and is supported by BMO.
Eligibility
- 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.
Adjudication process
The Michener Awards and Fellowships pride themselves on their independent and objective adjudication process.
Judges for the 2025 Michener Fellowships
- Geneviève Rossier (chair), Directrice générale, CN2I
- Raymond Brassard, former Executive Editor of the Montreal Gazette and Editorial Consultant at the National Newspaper Awards
- Vivian Smith, PhD, Editorial consultant, former Globe and Mail journalist and university journalism instructor, author of Outsiders Still (U of T Press)
