2024 Pulitzer Center Fellows Announced
Columbia Journalism School in partnership with the Pulitzer Center is proud to announce the graduates from the Class of 2024 who have been selected for fellowships to pursue in-depth projects on underreported issues of global importance.
This is the fifth year of the partnership, which provides funding and mentorship from an advisor associated with the Pulitzer Center. Fellows and advisors are paired based on their reporting interests and expertise. This year, fellows will report on topics, including the aftermath of war, the impact of infectious disease, the trafficking of endangered animals, and the effects of the green economy on fragile ecosystems.
Six of the CJS projects in the international arena are funded by the Simon and June Li Center for Global Journalism, which is committed to preparing journalists to work, think, and report globally. It is led by Center Director Azmat Khan, the Patti Cadby Birch Assistant Professor of Journalism.
The Li Center Fellows will pursue stories in Armenia, Ukraine, and several countries in South America. Other reporting grants are funded by generous school alumni, including through the Dean’s Fund for Postgraduate Reporting Opportunities.
"Two of the projects are team efforts born out of the collaborative approach to investigative reporting embraced at Columbia Journalism School,” said Elena Cabral, assistant dean of Academic Affairs and International Programs. “Whether working alone or in pairs, these graduates are highly trained to dig deeply into subjects, both in the digital space and on the ground.”
This investment in graduating students complements existing postgraduate fellowships offered through Columbia Journalism School. These efforts recognize that students and newsrooms continue to need support as they cover ongoing news stories in the U.S. and elsewhere.
"This year's Reporting Fellows' projects represent the depth and breadth of global journalism," said Karima Haynes, Reporting Fellows program director. "With passion and professionalism, their work will give voice to stories yet untold."
Refael Kubersky, '23 M.S. Documentary
Kubersky is a documentary filmmaker and an incoming reporting fellow at Frontline. His first documentary, Allies Left Behind, was featured on Voice of America's Dari broadcast. Refael’s work covers international relations, US government processes, religion, and scientific development.
Daniel Hernandez-Alonzo, '24 M.S.
Hernandez-Alonzo is a New Yorker born in Mexico City and an experienced non-fiction cinematographer. In 2023, he was DoP for “China: Frame by Frame,” which aired nationally on PBS. Daniel co-owns DF-NY Productions. He is also Director of Photography for the NYU School of Law and teaches Cinematography at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School.
This team project will investigate the non-human primate trade from Mauritius to the US.
Ariane Luthi, '24 M.S.
Luthi is a Swiss journalist with previous careers in diplomacy and with the world’s largest cement corporation. She has published widely in leading Swiss and German magazines. Her project will examine the side effects of international sanctions.
Ekaterina Venkina, '24 M.A. Politics
Venkina is a journalist with Germany’s international broadcaster DW, where she covers world politics, Russian and ex-U.S.S.R. regional issues. Throughout her decades-long career, she has reported from six different countries: Russia, Sweden, the United States, Great Britain, Belgium, and Germany.
The fellowship will take her to Kazakhstan, where she will follow the green economy transition and the environmental transformation of the Aral Sea.
Li Center for Global Journalism Fellows
Ella Chakarian, '24 M.S.
Chakarian is a journalist based in New York City. She has written stories about culture, human rights issues, and geopolitics.
Bence X. Szechenyi, '24 M.S.
Szechenyi is a journalist based in New York City. Previously, Bence was a Fulbright Scholar and freelance reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. Among other subjects, he is especially passionate about covering international relations, corruption, and crisis. With Li Center funding, this team will travel to Armenia to report on the aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, focusing on the refugee crisis and mounting political unrest in the region.
Lachlan Hyatt, '24 M.S.
Hyatt is a reporter based in New York City and a PBS NewsHour Fellow with experience reporting in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, and Ukraine. His project will document new efforts in eastern Ukraine to bring back safe, in-person schooling even as the war continues to disrupt the lives of children across the country.
Lucila Pinto, '24 M.A. Science
Pinto is a freelance journalist from Argentina who covers a diverse range of topics, including AI, trust in science, physics, biodiversity, and economic development. She was a fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science JournalismAI program. Her project will explore the social impacts of dengue outbreaks in South America amid rising temperatures due to climate change.
Carla Samon Ros, '24 M.S.
Samon Ros is an international journalist who in the last few years has worked as a foreign correspondent for Agencia EFE in South America. She has covered a wide range of topics, including politics, economics, human rights, and environmental issues. Her project will report on the social costs of Peru’s blueberry boom and the challenges posed by global warming.
Mathilde Augustin, '24 M.A. Business
Augustin is a fellow at InsideClimate News who covers business and climate. For her project, she will cover Guadeloupe's cancer crisis, which is linked to a toxic pesticide that France used in the Caribbean island’s banana plantations until the mid-90s.