The Ira A. Lipman Fellowship
Supporting significant reporting regarding civil or human rights
The Lipman Fellowship is a non-residential program but the fellows have access to the resources of the Journalism School and university libraries. Fellows must publish their finished stories within a year of accepting the fellowship and give the Lipman Center confirmation that their employers agree to publication. Freelancers must have a news outlet or magazine lined up to publish their fellowship stories. Fellows may be invited to campus to give a public presentation about their work, and upon mutual agreement, may also lecture, mentor and advise students.
Learn about current Lipman Fellows.
Applications for the 2025 Lipman Fellowship in Civil and Human Rights Reporting will open Nov. 15, 2024; the deadline for applications is Jan. 17, 2025. Please see our guidelines below. View past fellowship work here.
Fellowship Application Guidelines
- A resume
- A short (800 word) description of the proposed project
- Two letters of recommendation
You may email your application in Word or PDF form to [email protected].
You may also mail your application to the following address:
The Ira A. Lipman Fellowship
Columbia University School of Journalism
Pulitzer Hall
2950 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
FAQs
Yes. All applicants must be full-time staff reporters or writers with a U.S. news agency, magazine or online outlet, or independent journalists working in the United States.
No. The fellowship is nonresidential.
Each fellow will be awarded $10,000.
Two fellowships will be awarded.
Fellows will produce a 5,000-word story or series regarding civil and human rights broadly construed, such as voting rights, use of force by police, employment and other discrimination, human trafficking, child labor and more. The story must be published upon acceptance by the Lipman Center.
Fellows are expected to give a public presentation at the Journalism School about their work, and upon mutual agreement, may also lecture, mentor and advise students.
Fellows will be announced a month after the fellowship deadline and will have one year to complete their projects. The Center will provide editorial and reporting guidance throughout and set deadlines for outlines and drafts before stories are submitted to editors for publication. Fellows who are independent journalists must have a commitment from a news agency or magazine to publish their stories.
We will pay for fellows to come to New York for presentations and a fellowship event. All travel requests and other expenses must be made in advance and are subject to approval.
We will assist you in setting up access for Butler Library and the Journalism librarian.
Current Lipman Fellows
2024 Fellows
Jordan Michael Smith is a contributing editor to The New Republic and independent journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Atlantic and elsewhere.
Aaron Nelsen is a trending news editor at the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina, and a contributing writer for Texas Monthly.