APRIL 2018

The John B. Oakes Award
The John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, which carries a $5,000 prize, is given annually for news reporting that makes an exceptional contribution to the public’s understanding of environmental issues. The award was founded in 1993 by family, friends and colleagues of Oakes (1913-2001), who was an environmental journalism pioneer and an editorial writer for The New York Times.
Deadline: April 13, 2018

New Media Film Festival Awards
For years, The New Media Film Festival has led the way in the pursuit of stories worth telling, the exploration of new media technologies, boundary pushing resulting in new distribution models and creating and establishing new methodologies in the global monetization of content. A total of $45,000 in awards will be given out.
Deadline: April 25, 2018 (final)

MAY 2018

Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism
Since its inception in 2002, the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund has sought to support those journalists Kurt most admired, the freelancers and local reporters whose work is often poorly paid, mostly unsung and all too often fraught with danger.
Deadline: May 31, 2018

The Hastings Center’s Award for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics
Submissions are openfor The Hastings Center Award for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics. Three prizes will be given: a first prize of $6,000 and two runners-up of $3,000 each. The Hastings Center is a non-partisan, non-profit bioethics research institute in Garrison, NY.
Deadline: May 31, 2018

JUNE 2018 & BEYOND DEADLINES

Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award
From the generosity of the Lewis family, the award is given each year to a student SPJ member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the First Amendment through the field of journalism. The award assists a student with his/her attendance to SPJ’s annual convention.
Deadline: June 5, 2018

South Asian Digital Media Awards
The South Asian Digital Media Awards presented by WAN-IFRA recognize publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.
Deadline: June 16, 2018

Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award
The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation presents the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award to honor a person or persons who have fought to protect and preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Deadline: June 21, 2018

DEADLINES DOWN THE LINE

Society of Professional Journalists Awards
The Society of Professional Journalists has various awards for professional to collegiate journalists for excellence in various forms of media. Awards are rolling and there are several with deadlines in June. Please check the site for more details.

The Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative
Moment Magazine is launching a fellowship to support reporters pursuing investigative stories that address anti-Semitism, anti-Israel and other prejudices that threaten Jewish rights to dignity and self-determination. One grantee will be awarded $10,000 USD. Applicants will need to make the case for how their proposal addresses problems of anti-Semitism or anti-Israel prejudice in a new way or concentrates on an under-reported aspect of this issue.

The Cabot Prizes
The Columbia Journalism Awards
The prizes recognize a distinguished body of work that has contributed to Inter-American understanding.

Tribeca Snapchat Shorts
The Tribeca Film Festival and Snap Inc. are excited to bring back Tribeca Snapchat Shorts, now an official Festival category, created in an effort to discover visionary artists in the mobile space. This new category provides the perfect opportunity for people who are passionate about Snapchat and narrative storytelling to present their mastery of the smallest screen. The Festival and Snap Inc. are excited to support the next generation of storytellers and promote creativity on Snapchat.

IWMF African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative
The IWMF designed the African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative to support journalists committed to pursuing stories that go beyond the well-established path of political instability, armed conflicts, and humanitarian crisis in the region.

Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative to Expose Prejudice
DPIJI provides grants to journalists ages 22 to 38 to research and write in-depth stories about a modern manifestation of anti-Semitism or any other deeply ingrained prejudice. Each year, Moment—with the help of an advisory board of journalists—selects one DPIJI Fellow, who receives $5,000 ($2,500 upfront and $2,500 upon publication) to produce a story.

IWMF Awards
The fight for media freedom has never been more critical. For 28 years, the IWMF has been highlighting the work of brave women journalists and honoring their contributions to press freedom around the world. Join the IWMF this year in recognizing essential and diverse voices by submitting a nomination for the Courage in Journalism.

Inge Morath Award
The Magnum Foundation and the Inge Morath Foundation are pleased to announce the 16th annual Inge Morath Award, a $5,000 grant given to a female photographer under the age of 30 to support the completion of a long-term documentary project. One Awardee and up to two finalists are selected by a jury composed of Magnum photographers, the Executive Director of the Magnum Foundation, and Inge Morath Foundation.

John Chancellor Award
The John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, founded in 1995, is presented each year to a reporter with courage and integrity for cumulative professional accomplishments. The prize honors the legacy of pioneering television correspondent and longtime NBC News anchor John Chancellor.

Global Shining Light Award
Every two years, the Global Investigative Journalism Network presents the Global Shining Light Award, a unique award which honors investigative journalism in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.

NAHJ Ñ Awards
Six awards will be presented within the Print/Digital, Television, Photography and Radio categories. There will also be two Vanguard Awards – The Al Neuharth Award for Investigative Journalism and the NAHJ Elaine Rivera Civil Rights & Social Justice Award.

National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame Award
Do you know someone who is making a difference for Latinos in journalism? Someone who’s coverage of the Latino community goes beyond the who, what, when, where and how? Maybe you know an educator who is grooming young Latino journalists into future stars?

Ed Bradley Scholarship
Ed Bradley is best known for his award-winning work in 26 years on CBS News’ 60 Minutes and as the first African American White House TV correspondent. Bradley established the Ed Bradley Scholarship in 1994. Since then, 20 young, aspiring journalists have received the award created by the late CBS News and 60 Minutes correspondent.

RTDNA Undergraduate Scholarships
Scholarships are open to undergraduate students pursuing careers in radio, television, or digital journalism.  Winners must be officially enrolled, full-time sophomores, juniors or seniors in good standing when scholarships are awarded for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Gli Occhi Della Guerra
Gli Occhi Della Guerra is opening its newsroom for those who dream of being a reporter. Contestants will have the chance to present their projects that they have never had the chance to develop. A panel of judges comprising of reporters, journalists, photographers will select the best two projects, to which all expenses will be covered and that will be published on the Italian online newspaper www.ilgiornale.it as well as on the website www.gliocchidellaguerra.it.

Online Journalism Awards
The Online Journalism Awards (OJAs), launched in May 2000, are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism around the world.

Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing
The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research.

Collaborative Reporting Project Open Call
Six reporting projects will be selected to win a $7,000 grant through the Collaborative Reporting Project. The Center for Cooperative Media is interested in hearing from local news outlets across the U.S., and are particularly interested in projects that include collaboration with technologists. The proposals should include original reporting.

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
The award recognizes excellence in broadcast, documentary and digital journalism.

Future of Storytelling Prize
Immersive, narrative-driven projects have a chance to win $5,000. Submissions that may include, but are not limited to: virtual, mixed, and augmented reality; web-based, audio, and data-driven works; mobile apps; narrative games; multimedia installations; and multi-platform projects.

International Documentary Association’s  33rd Annual IDA Documentary Awards
The IDA Documentary Awards recognize the best nonfiction films and programs of the year. Award recipients are announced at the IDA Documentary Awards in December in Los Angeles. Entry is open to any documentary, non-fiction or factual program that qualifies for one of the main award categories.

Heroes of the 50 States: The State Government Hall of Fame
Annually, the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Freedom of Information Coalition recognizes such an individual — someone whose service, accomplishments and contributions have left a legacy at the state and local level.

Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability
The National Center on Disability and Journalism is now accepting entries for the 2017 Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, the only journalism contest devoted exclusively to disability coverage. Journalists working in digital, print and broadcast media are eligible to enter.

Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award
The Thomson Foundation, in partnership with the UK Foreign Press Association (FPA), is inviting young journalists from around the world to submit their most compelling stories. Now leading into its fifth year, the Young Journalist Award is Thomson Foundation’s annual journalism competition, dedicated to finding and inspiring ambitious and emerging journalistic talent from across the globe.

UN Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UNDP/GEF Small Grant Programme have teamed again with tve to launch a video competition for the best youth climate projects happening around the globe. Send an inspiring video diary, a maximum of three minutes long.

North American Digital Media Awards
These awards, presented by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, recognize publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.

PILOT Innovation Challenge
PILOT is calling on all entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and creative thinkers to submit their ideas for accelerating broadcast innovation in the PILOT Innovation Challenge. The challenge question: How might local television and radio broadcasters engage their communities with next generation content on any device, whether big, small or moving?

The Bookmarks Awards
The Bookmarks Awards, based in South Africa, honor excellence in digital work, from websites, app development and games to multimedia and digital journalism.

2018 Dart Awards
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
Since 1994, the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma have honored innovative, ethical and effective reporting on the impact of violence, crime, disaster and other traumatic events, focusing on the experiences of victims and survivors and contributing to public understanding of trauma-related issues.

NYU Journalism Reporting Award
The Reporting Award provides support of up to $12,500 for a work of journalism in any medium on significant underreported subjects in the public interest. In establishing the award, the Carter Journalism Institute’s faculty cited the need for encouraging enterprise journalism during a time of extensive layoffs and budget cuts throughout the journalism industry.

Mark of Excellence Awards
The Mark of Excellence Awards honors the best in collegiate journalism. Judged at the regional and national level, the annual competition offers 51 categories in newspapers, magazines, photography, radio, television and online journalism.

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are the most prestigious honor for professional journalists under the age of 35. Print, broadcast, digital and innovative storytelling entries are accepted. Prizes of $10,000 are awarded in local, national and international reporting.

The Richard M. Clurman Award for Mentoring
The Clurman Award honors superb on-the-job mentors who improve journalism by exemplifying excellence in nurturing, critiquing and inspiring young journalists. The Clurman Award is presented at the Livingston Awards luncheon in June. Past recipients include Gwen Ifill, Tom Brokaw, Judy Woodruff and Paul Steiger.

Asian Digital Media Awards
The awards honor Asian publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.

The Shorty Awards
Millions of people participate in The Shortys to recognize individuals and organizations producing great content on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, YouNow, Musical.ly, and the rest of the social web.

Mirror Awards
Now in their twelfth year, the Mirror Awards are the most important awards for honoring excellence in media industry reporting. Established by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, the awards honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.

Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism
Established in 1999 by Seattle broadcasting legend Ancil Payne (1921–2004), the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism honors media organizations and journalists who report with integrity and character in the face of personal, political, or economic pressure.

Knight International Journalism Awards (Call for Nominations)
Each November, the International Center for Journalists honors outstanding colleagues with the Knight International Journalism Award at its annual gala in Washington, D.C. ICFJ is seeking nominees whose pioneering coverage or media innovations have a significant impact on the lives of people around the world. Candidates can be reporters, editors, technologists, media managers, citizen journalists or bloggers.

New America Award
The Society of Professional Journalists’ New America Award honors public service journalism that explores and exposes an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities currently living in the United States.

SPJ Sigma Chai Delta Awards
he Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the Society first honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the organization awarded the first Distinguished Service Awards. These awards later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards. The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in categories covering print, radio, television, newsletters, art/graphics, online and research.

SPJ High School Essay Contest
The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Journalism Education Association want to increase high school students’ knowledge and understanding of the importance of independent media to our lives. National winners of this essay contest receive scholarship awards.
Deadline: Feb. 23, 2018

The Molly National Journalism Prize 2018
The MOLLY Prize is an annual national print or online journalism award of $5,000 with two honorable mentions of $1,000 each to be presented by the Texas Democracy Foundation and the Texas Observer in memory of Molly Ivins.

Nomination Deadline: SPJ Black Hole Award
he Society of Professional Journalists launched the Black Hole Award to highlight the most heinous violations of the public’s right to know. By exposing such abuses, SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee seeks to educate the public about their rights and call attention to those who would interfere with openness and transparency.

Middle East Digital Media Awards
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
The awards honor Middle Eastern publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.

Charlie Ericksen Internship Supplement
The NAHJ Washington, D.C. awards one internship supplement, named after Hispanic Link News Service Founder Charlie Ericksen, to a student who is interning at a Washington D.C. Area news outlet.

Meyer “Mike” Berger Award
The Meyer “Mike” Berger Award and its $2,000 cash prize are awarded for outstanding human interest reporting across platforms.

North America Digital Media Awards 2018
These awards, presented by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, recognise publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Media and Journalism Awards: April 5 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

A project from the Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, EconoFact seeks to lay out complex domestic policy issues in an easy-to-read memo-style format. Since its launch, the site has published more than 100 pieces of policy analysis that are designed to be evergreen.

The topics that are covered most often include hot button issues like immigration and trade. But the site covers a variety of issues, including college funding and endowments, explained Edward Schumacher-Matos, the site’s publisher and co-executive editor and a visiting professor at the Fletcher School.

We spoke to Schumacher-Matos to learn more about the site and the difficulties of advocating for facts in an anti-truth era.

Q&A

Tell us about EconoFact and how the project got started.

Edward Schumacher-Matos: I was working on a project called Iceberg, a global online publication that features pieces of analysis by experts in different parts of the world. Michael [Klein, professor at the Fletcher School] came in to see me. He was quite disturbed about the election and the tone that had transpired. In talking with colleagues, they were upset that so many basic facts that they know about economic and social policies were not being discussed or used by either candidate. It was a frustrating experience. Trump in particular had little command or even respect for policy. The Hillary campaign misused facts, but Trump was the bigger violator. So we tried to figure out what to do.

With social media you can have your own voice – it’s just a matter of how you organize it and go about trying to promote it. We thought, great, we can do something by launching a site that explains domestic policy. But is this just another site for opinion of which there’s so much? How can we distinguish this and make it different?

I teach opinion writing. When you are trying to argue a point of view, you should be explanatory and put the facts first. There’s this idea of structured journalism that we’ve been playing around with. Could you build a common body of stories that includes all the facts, and each new fact is just a short update? And then you’d link it back to the base. You can break the story into facts and do that as long as we all agree on that common base of knowledge. None of us has been able to make that work. The New York Times, the BBC and Reuters have played around with this. Academic institutions have also tried to do it, but it hasn’t worked. But this is what inspired us, because it forces the facts to be first and the information is delivered in a memo style.

How do you choose the topics you cover?

Schumacher-Matos: We have a weekly editorial meeting. We have an editor, Miriam Wasserman, who works out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She’s a Fletcher grad. She worked at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank as an editor of their magazine and has held other jobs in journalism. Michael is the executive editor. He’s the real inspiration and editorial leader. I’m more like the publisher. Michael put together the network of economists. On Monday mornings we talk and look at what’s in the news and what we think is going to be in the news.

Edward Schumacher-Matos

Do you go back and update older memos?

Schumacher-Matos: We haven’t had to. But yes, we will, if f it requires updating. In the future we’ll probably have to do more of that.

Who is your target audience?

Schumacher-Matos: Influencers, journalists and policymakers. If we had the money, we would try to break out and try to have a social media engagement strategy. But in the meantime we keep growing organically.

We want to get to what we describe as “an NPR audience” – an informed public audience. NPR’s audience is half Democrats and half Republicans. We do not want to be pigeonholed with just one political tribe – we really want to appeal to all sides and bring down the tone of the debate and talk about the facts. When you’re looking at a problem, what are some of the logical, rational ways of solving it? There may be more than one way, but let’s at least agree on the facts first.

What are some of the challenges in running the project?

Schumacher-Matos: Our biggest challenge is to keep trying to grow the audience. We’re convinced the editorial formula is excellent, and we see the response we get from people when they come into contact with us. Everybody gets it. Everybody’s tired of all the extreme opinions and the shouting. We don’t really have to explain what we’re trying to do.

How do you vet the economists that you work with?

Schumacher-Matos: Michael’s the guy who does that. We want the economists to feel some attachment, some loyalty to the project. I think we’ve done that. Clearly, we can’t pay them. I wish we could. If we had the money we could. We’re trying to raise money.

A graphic from a recent EconoFact story about high school students having trouble attending colleges that are further away.

What kind of impact do you hope to have, and how do you measure that?

Schumacher-Matos: We’re getting picked up more and more by the news media. We’re getting quoted more. That’s growing. You begin seeing who’s seeing it. We’re quoted on the radio a lot too. It’s hard to measure how you are affecting policy. That’s a longer-term measure. We just have to keep at it. We think we are having an impact. We see people in Congress reaching out to us and following up if they want more information. They talk to the economists. We want to reach out more to state governments and regionalmedia as a way to provide information at that level. There’s a lot of information available in New York and Washington, but what about the rest of the country? We also try to make the memos as accessible and readable as possible, so you don’t have to be an expert to understand them.

How do you deal with the issue of trust in a time when so many people are so anti-fact? There are people who think that if something is coming from a news organization or a university, it can’t be trusted. How do you address that?

Schumacher-Matos: We deal with it through our tone and how we write. We allow zero demonizing or criticising of other groups and other points of view. We try to have a very sober, clear and open tone that we hope strikes an empathetic chord that reaches everyone, no matter what your point of view might be. And we do not telegraph that we’re part of one tribe trying to do battle with another tribe. We try to stay away from that. That’s part of the structured memo format and the “facts first” thing. You’ll see no critical adjectives about somebody else or about political leaders. We focus on the facts, not on political fighting or trying to score points.

What are your future plans?

Schumacher-Matos: In addition to looking at publishing and distribution partnerships, finding ways to grow our audience. We need funding to allow us to do that. So far we’ve done very well organically. And we’re looking again at the original Iceberg project. EconoFact focuses on domestic issues, but maybe we can take some of those pieces and repurpose them internationally. Some of them won’t be appropriate but some of them well.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post How EconoFact Advocates for Truth in an Anti-Fact Era appeared first on MediaShift.

APRIL 2018 DEADLINES

Mother Jones Ben Bagdikian Fellowship
The Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program offers a crash course in investigative journalism. Mother Jones fellows dive deep into every aspect of a national multimedia outfit—from making news to making it pretty, ensuring its impact, and mastering the inner workings of nonprofit publishing. Fellowship positions include:
Deadline: April 1, 2018

Economics of Aging and Work Journalism Fellowship
During a 10-month fellowship period, the selected journalist will develop the analytical research skills needed to create a series of news reports dealing with the economics of the aging workforce in the United States to be distributed by AP to its global worldwide audience of thousands of subscribers and customers across all media platforms.
Deadline: April 2, 2018

IRE Freelance Fellowship
Awards of $1,000 or more are available to assist in conducting investigative projects. These fellowships for journalists who make their living primarily as freelancers were created in 2008.
Deadline: April 2, 2018

MacDowell Colony’s Art of Journalism Fellowship
The Art of Journalism is advancing MacDowell’s legacy of supporting some of the finest voices in non-fiction, from the essays of James Baldwin to Frances Fitzgerald’s investigations into the Vietnam War. The initiative will support well-reported, research-based non-fiction intended for publication as narrative articles or book-length works. Genres include investigative reporting, documentary writing and reportage, research-based essays, memoir based on critical issues impacting society, broadcast writing, and historical analysis that contextualizes current events. Preference will be given to writers whose work embraces a spirit of experimentation. Journalists and other non-fiction writers based in the U.S. and abroad will be encouraged to apply. While the initiative will not support work in personal memoir, biography, or historical writing, these genres will continue to be served in the non-fiction category.
Deadline: April 15, 2018

IRE Diversity Fellowship
Established by the Philip L. Graham Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to attend IRE’s conferences. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

Jennifer Leonard Scholarship
The award sends women of modest means who are college students studying journalism or professional journalists with three or fewer years of working experience to IRE’s conferences.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

James Richard Bennett Scholarships
The scholarship sends a limited number of college students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma or Louisiana to attend the annual IRE conference. The scholarships are made possible by a donation to IRE by Dr. James R. Bennett, professor emeritus of English, University of Arkansas.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

American University Graduate Fellowship with The Washington Post
Location: Washington D.C.
Applicants must apply and be accepted to American University’s Journalism & Public Affairs master’s program. “The successful launch of an ongoing fellowship program offers Fellows full tuition plus a $30,000 yearly stipend and the chance to work side-by-side with top journalists at The Washington Post, one of the world’s leading news organizations.”
Deadline: April 30

MAY 2018 DEADLINES

2018 Surdna Reporting Fellowship
YES! Media seeks an experienced journalist for a one-year, full-time reporting job. YES! established this fellowship to help build diversity in the journalism industry and, specifically, to expose reporters from communities of color to solutions reporting. This fellowship offers the opportunity to work with experienced writers, editors, and designers to bring the YES! perspective to both daily news and in-depth solutions reporting. Areas of coverage for YES! Media can land within any of our major content areas: Civil Liberties, Racial Justice, Environmental Justice, Native Rights, Economic Justice, Democratic Reform, and Wellness and Health Justice.

Deadline: May 1, 2018

Link: http://www.yesmagazine.org/about/2018-surdna-reporting-fellowship

Greenberg World Fellows Program
The Greenberg World Fellows Program, which is part of Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, provides the opportunity for World Fellows to contribute to Yale’s intellectual life, participate in events, and collaborate with peers, audit classes, mentor students and lead round-table discussions. The mission of Yale World Fellows is to cultivate and empower a network of globally engaged leaders committed to making the world a better place. The 2017 program will run from mid-August to mid-December and fellows will get a stipend to cover the costs of living in New Haven.
Deadline: Varies

ROLLING DEADLINES

Gender and LGBTI Rights Reporting Fellowship
The International Reporting Project is accepting applications from professional journalists to report on gender and LGBTI rights around the world. Applicants may propose any stories that focus on gender rights or LGBTI rights (or both).
Deadline: TBD

Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship
To foster, promote, sustain and improve the best traditions of American journalism, the Alicia Patterson Foundation will provide support for journalists engaged in rigorous, probing, spirited, independent and skeptical work that will benefit the public. The foundation will support journalism and will foster a community of journalists engaged in truthfully informing the public.
Deadline: Rolling

International Reporting Project Religion Fellowship
The International Reporting Project (IRP) is accepting proposals to report on global religion issues. Possible topics include conflict and peace; environment and sustainability; political economy and development; health and education; gender, race and sexuality; law and human rights; social movements; migration; and humanitarianism.
Deadline: Rolling

Outside Editorial Fellowship
The fellowship is a six-month, paid position in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Duties include fact-checking, reporting, research, proofreading, and assorted support chores for the editorial department. Fellows occasionally have the opportunity to write short pieces for the magazine and website, and they will attend editorial meetings, work closely with top editors, and gain hands-on experience at an award-winning magazine.
Deadline: Rolling

Holly Whisenhunt Stephen Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Send broadcast and/or radio journalists to IRE’s week-long Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. The fellowships were established by IRE and WTHR-Indianapolis to honor Stephen, an award-winning journalist and longtime IRE member who died in Nov. 2008 after a long battle with cancer.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

Ottaway Fellowships, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to IRE’s week-long Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

R-CAR Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
The Fund for Rural Computer-Assisted Reporting helps a journalist from a news organization in a rural area attend one of IRE’s week-long CAR boot camps. It was established by IRE member Daniel Gilbert to give rural reporters skills that will help them uncover stories that otherwise would not come to light. The fellowship is offered in conjunction with The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

IN PROGRESS OR FUTURE FELLOWSHIPS

California Endowment Fellowship
Latino USA, a weekly show distributed by NPR and produced by The Futuro Media Group, is taking applications for the first of two (2) year-long California-based fellowships. We are seeking graduate students, recent graduates from a journalism program or young professionals with a passionate interest in reporting on California communities and health inequities.

Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship for Innovation in Journalism
The Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship for Innovation in Journalism, created in association with the Noepe Center for the Literary Arts, will select a fellow who will work with reporters, editors and the Gazette’s webmaster in the Vineyard Gazette newsroom on a specific project that draws on publicly available data sources to create a dynamic news page. The Gazette has created the fellowship to promote experimentation and to cultivate the use of technology and multimedia in a traditional newsroom setting. Now in its second year, the fellowship is designed to give the fellow the experience of working in a small community newsroom while introducing the newspaper staff to new ideas and skills.

The Charles Koch Institute’s Media and Journalism Fellowship
The Charles Koch Institute’s Media and Journalism Fellowship provides promising writers, reporters, and multimedia professionals the opportunity to develop and refine their professional skills while working full-time in the industry. The year-long fellowship offers world-class curriculum and an individualized experience—including summits, online webinars, professional skills training, industry speakers, and mentoring—for the next generation of journalists and storytellers.

Public Interest Technology Fellowship
New America’s Public Interest Technology Fellowship Program is an ambitious new initiative designed to support an emerging public interest technology sector in America—the application of technology knowledge skills in policymaking and public service to help solve public problems.

2017 Next Gen Radio Early Career Fellowship
The Next Generation Radio Fellowship is a week-long digital journalism training project designed to give competitively selected participants, who are interested in radio and journalism, the skills and opportunity to report and produce their own multimedia story.

ICFJ Bringing Home the World Fellowship
The Bringing Home the World Fellowship helps U.S.-based minority journalists cover compelling yet under-reported international stories, increasing the diversity of voices in global news. The program helps level the playing field and redress the inequality minority journalists often face by giving them the opportunity to report from overseas and advance their careers.

Gwen Ifill/PBS NewsHour Journalism Fellow
The Gwen Ifill/PBS NewsHour Journalism Fellowship for current undergraduate and graduate students is a 10-week, paid position where you can gain hands-on, real-world experience working on “PBS NewsHour.”

Global Religion Issues Reporting Fellowship
The International Reporting Project accepts applications from professional journalists to report on global religion issues. Some of the areas on which proposals might focus include the relationship of religion to conflict and peace, environment and sustainability, political economy and development, health and education and gender, race and sexuality.

JAWS CAMP Fellowship
Each year the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) brings fellows to its annual Conference and Mentoring Project (CAMP) for three days of training, networking and professional development.

Naughton Fellowship
After two years, Poynter is reopening its Naughton Fellowship, a one-year position allowing the recipient to create journalism about journalism alongside the team of media reporters in St. Petersburg, Florida. The fellowship, which is named after former Poynter president and New York Times correspondent Jim Naughton, has been retooled this year to focus on visual journalism.

N.S. Bienstock Fellowship
An award established in 1999 by Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper, the original owners of N.S. Bienstock. Acquired by United Talent Agency in 2014, the firm now known as Bienstock, a UTA Company has been a leading talent agency in news and reality-based programming for more than 50 years and is a long-time member of RTDNA. This award recognizes a promising minority journalist in radio or television news.

Michele Clark Fellowship
RTDNF’s first fellowship is named for Michele Clark, the CBS News correspondent who was killed in a plane crash while on assignment in 1972. This fellowship is awarded to a young, promising minority professional in television or radio news.

Vada and Col. Barney Oldfield National Security Reporting Fellowship
Established by the RTDNF Board of Trustees in honor of Vada and Col. Barney Oldfield. Barney and Vada served in WWII and both had illustrious military careers. Barney’s long and impressive career included a stint as a Hollywood studio publicist, WWII Army and post-war Air Force public relations officer, author, and lecturer. Col. Oldfield was also a businessman and philanthropist who founded over 40 private foundations including RTDNF. This fellowship is awarded to a reporter or producer in radio or television news engaged covering national defense and security

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor of MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Media and Journalism Fellowships: April 4 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

Featured Training

How to Get Better Engagement Metrics
Engagement is so much more than Facebook reach. For publishers who want to cultivate a direct relationship with readers, it’s the top of the customer funnel. And how you define and measure engagement in your newsroom matters directly to whether you’ll be leading the industry or lagging behind. This live online panel will include a discussion with publishers who are at the forefront of using engagement metrics to build a direct relationship with readers, improve the quality of their journalism and drive revenue for their businesses. This free online panel is sponsored by Content Insights.
Date and time: April 18, 10 am PT / 1 pm ET
Panelists: Jason Alcorn, MediaShift; Hannah Wise, Dallas Morning News; Alexandra Smith, WhereBy.Us
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: Free

Free Panel: Loyalty and Revenue: The New User Metrics
What user metrics matter most when reader loyalty is your goal? Right now a tectonic shift is happening in publishing from a click-driven era to one that is community-driven. How publishers respond today can determine if they will succeed in building an audience that shows up tomorrow and every day after. This panel will include a discussion with publishers who are the forefront of thinking about how to measure user loyalty in this new community-driven era to strengthen their brands and use a loyal readership to grow revenue for their businesses.
Date and time: May 2, 10 am PT / 1 pm ET
Panelists: Jason Alcorn, MediaShift; Denise Law, The Economist; Dave Burdick, Denverite
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: Free

APRIL 2018 & BEYOND

TV Assignment Editor Workshop
Poynter is offering training exclusively for TV assignment editors. Participants will learn how to find stories and sources online, how to use great new tools to get stories online and on social media faster and how to help others to “get” your vision for the stories you are pitching. Assignment editors also have to help newsrooms drill down to find the truth in stories. This course aims to strengthen participants’ critical thinking skills to help inoculate them from the noise and nonsense that is constantly coming at them. In this seminar, Poynter’s Al Tompkins will guide participants through weekly readings, activities and live group discussions.
Date and time: April 2 – 27, 2018
Instructor: Al Tompkins, Poynter
Producer: Poynter NewsU
Place: Online
Price: $349

APME’s NewsTrain Digital-Skills Workshops
For just $75, early-bird registrants get a full day or day-plus of digital training at APME’s NewsTrain workshops in Muncie, Indiana, and Phoenix. Skills taught include social reporting and branding, data-driven enterprise, mobile storytelling and newsgathering, smartphone video, open records, digital tools and data visualization. Attendees regularly rate NewsTrain’s training as 4.5, with 5 as highly useful and effective. Fifty general scholarships are offered for Muncie NewsTrain, and diversity scholarships and discounted hotel rooms are available for both. Some early registrants will receive free AP Stylebooks. Learn more and register for the Muncie, Indiana, and Phoenix NewsTrains.
Date and time: April 6-7 in Phoenix
Instructors include: Middle Tennessee State’s Val Hoeppner, Arizona State’s Sarah Cohen, USA Today’s Mark Nichols and USC’s Laura E. Davis
Producer: Associated Press Media Editors
Place: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix
Price: Early-bird rate of $75 through Feb. 24 for Muncie and through March 6 for Phoenix. Scholarships available. The Muncie scholarship deadline is Feb. 12.

Video Storytelling for the Web 
Learn to produce compelling original video content that will connect readers, clients or stakeholders to the news, projects and people that matter. In this class, which will include a lot of 1-1 instruction, you will pitch, storyboard, shoot and edit a short, interview-based video story. No experience needed, but lots of passion required.
Date and time: April 9, 16 23, 30 and May 7, 2018
Instructor: Erica Berenstein, New York Times
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Price: $599; $479 until Feb. 1

Social Media and Audience Engagement 
This 5-week course is designed for anyone in communications who is passionate about social media and wants to create new career opportunities for themselves. They will cover the principles behind serving audiences on social media, using social media for news gathering, Social media video, community building, learning from analytics and creating strategies and campaigns.
Date and time: April 10, 17, 24 and May 1 and 8, 2018
Instructor: Jennifer Chang, Quartz
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Price: $599; $479 until Feb. 1

Adobe After Effects and Motion Graphics 
In this daylong workshop, you will learn the basics of Adobe After Effects, the leading software for digital visual effects, motion graphics and animation. Animation and motion graphics storytelling are in-demand skills and provides excellent opportunities to help news audiences understand complex stories in a dynamic and visual medium. Examples include animated infographics and data visualizations, kinetic typography, character animations, and visual animated explanations.
Date and time: April 14, 9:30-5 p.m.
Instructor: Graham Roberts, New York Times
Producer: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $549; $439 by Feb. 1

25 Incredibly Useful Tools for Your iPhone
Discover and experiment with digital tools and apps to increase your productivity, save your sanity and make the most of your iPhone.
Date and time: April 19, 6:30-9 p.m.
Instructor: Jeremy Caplan, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY J School
Producer: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Hooked on Junk News: Breaking Bad Habits and Rebuilding Trust in the Media
As a mediator among those who create, distribute and consume the news, the Newseum wants to help each group better understand the others. In this session, the Newseum’s Kristi Kenneth will focus on revealing what the organization has learned about the current media landscape through workshops with news consumers young and old around the globe. What issues cause the most confusion? Where does the public lay blame for problems like “fake” news? What skills do students and the general public need to develop, and what can journalists do to help bolster those skills?
Date and time: April 26, 2 p.m. ET
Instructor: Kristi Kenneth, Newseum
Producer: Poynter
Place: Online
Price: Free

Product Thinking for News Bootcamp
Product leads, product developers, product managers… those are job descriptions that have popped up in journalism and media job listings in the past couple of years. Media companies, both startups and legacy organizations, are hiring people who can design and execute products, such as mobile apps, that deliver news to people how, when and where they want it. The product approach is critical to the future of media and can lead to rewarding new career paths.
Date and time: April 28 – April 29, 2018
Instructor: Hong Qu, CUNY
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $479

MAY 2018 & BEYOND

Sports Journalism in the Digital Age
Data, social media and technology have fundamentally changed the way we report on the world of sports. More than ever, fans are able to communicate with their favorite athletes directly and able to publish about sports themselves. Sports journalists must find their place in this fast-paced ecosystem.
Date and time: May 2, 2018, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Luis Miguel Echegaray, Sports Illustrated
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Magazine Fact-Checking
Fact-checking is vital to journalism. This is especially true now that we’re dealing with so-called “fake news” and “alternative facts.” In this two-and-a-half-hour workshop, Brooke Borel, journalist and author of The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, will walk you through the what why and how of fact-checking. You’ll learn how to vet sources of all types and how to fact-check quotes, photographs, headlines, and more. We’ll also cover how to navigate relationships with writers, reporters, editors, and sources.
Date and time: May 9, 2018, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Brooke Borel
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Drone Journalism Flight School
This all-day, hands-on workshop teaches the basics of drones journalism and videography. In the morning, instructor Travis Fox will go over the ins and outs of drones and their applications for journalism, the legal and ethical limitations for flying drones and how to apply for a Federal Aviation Administration’s Part 107 drone pilot’s certificate. In the afternoon, the class will head to Brooklyn’s Calvert Vaux Park to fly a DJI Inspire 1 drone and capture aerial video footage of the city. Each participant will have a limited time to fly the drone in the park. The flight portion of the class is weather and FAA permitting.
Date and time: May 19, 2018, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Travis Fox
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $250

Data Visualization for Storytellers
A deluge of data is being made available for public use, but complex raw data sets can be difficult to understand and interpret. Having the tools and techniques to present illustrated data to your audience with aesthetic form and functionality are critical for conveying ideas effectively.
Date and time: June 28-29, 2018
Instructor: Peter Aldhous, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute’s Data Visualization Instructor
Producer: UC Berkeley Advanced Media Institute
Place: Berkeley, Calif.
Price: $895

COURSES ON DEMAND

How to Get Better Newsletter Metrics
Newsletters are a direct line to your audience. In a pivot-to-reader world, there’s arguably no product more valuable for digital publishers. Not surprisingly, newsletters have been one of the most exciting media segments to watch, and in 2018 we can expect even more innovation. This live online panel will include a discussion with publishers who are at the forefront of using newsletter metrics to increase engagement, develop new products, and drive revenue for their businesses.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: Free

How to Verify Photos and Videos
Learn how to verify photos and videos taken from social networks, especially in the context of breaking news. With “fake news” such a hot topic, how can you quickly and effectively verify materials that may be, well, fake? Most fake photos and videos can be checked quite quickly, allowing journalists and researchers to stop the spread of so-called “fake news” before it gets onto your Facebook feed. This course will help you develop an eye for fake photos and video, allowing you to establish the originality and veracity of the content.  These skills are especially useful in a breaking news situation, in which verifying a photo or video will not just tell you if it’s real, but also additional information that can provide additional information for further reporting.
Instructor: Aric Toler, Bellingcat analyst
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

5 Tech Tools to Improve Your Reporting
Whether you’re an investigative journalist or a daily beat reporter, free and low-cost technical tools and apps can help you improve and streamline your reporting. We’ll introduce you to tech tools and platforms that will help you obtain and manipulate data. You’ll learn how to scrape social accounts, without knowing any code. And you’ll discover how to use features that are built into services you already use in more powerful ways. Plus, we’ll look at some popular (free!) project management software and applications to help you collaborate with colleagues and manage reporting projects.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Report Responsibly on Cannabis
The cannabis beat intersects with science, medicine, business, regulation, technology, agriculture, law, criminal justice and individual liberties. At a time when coverage of these issues is shaping public policy, journalists sometimes get it right — and sometimes get it wrong. The consequences are wide-ranging, from misinformed voters to poorly crafted laws gone unchecked. Editors increasingly realize the value of covering the growing billion-dollar cannabis industry. And more journalists are on the cannabis beat than any other time, with legal cannabis in eight states and medical cannabis in more than half the country. This guide to covering cannabis aims to establish a shared language and common journalistic standards to help the quality of coverage keep up with the quantity.
Producer: Poynter
Place: Online
Price: $30

User Experience Testing 101
The rapid pace of technological change drives not only more innovative approaches to storytelling but also new behaviors among story consumers. Understanding how audiences experience media platforms and the stories they deliver is one key to retaining and growing them in a shifting media landscape. Applied in a wide-range of professions toward goals as diverse as the design of new digital products and improving hospital patient outcomes, user experience testing is an approach to understanding what audiences do and why they do it in order to adapt to their needs and leverage their behaviors.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Verify Photos and Videos
Most fake photos and videos can be checked quite quickly, allowing journalists and researchers to stop the spread of so-called “fake news” before it gets onto your Facebook feed. This course will help you develop an eye for fake photos and video, allowing you to establish the originality and veracity of the content. These skills are especially useful in a breaking news situation, in which verifying a photo or video will not just tell you if it’s real, but also can provide additional information for further reporting.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Making Sense of Local Metrics
What metrics matter most to local publishers today? Long gone are the days of tracking pageviews to measure the success of your news site, when the loyalty and quality of your audience matters much more than its raw size. Today publishers have more ways than ever to use Google Analytics and other tools to measure traffic and engagement, and even with a small team (or just yourself!) you can take advantage of this to build a more sustainable business.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Motion Graphics for Social Media
You’ve seen moving ads on your social media feed. Creating your own well designed animations including text, shape, photos and video is easier to achieve than it appears. Find a way to spice up the campaign for your business, film, nonprofit, or event.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom
Teachers can easily get into a rut, teaching their students the same way they’ve been doing for years. But this can be boring to students who are “digital natives.” This course will show you simple ways to break out of the traditional lecture-and-paper model, no matter the discipline, and instead teach lessons by listening to podcasts and having students create their own shows using free online tools.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Solve Legal Issues on Social Media
Gain an understanding of your rights and responsibilities when it comes to copyright, fair use and defamation on social media. Everyone’s a publisher now. Whether your company has a whole social media team or one person with a smart phone, you have to stay within your own lane on the information highway. It’s crucial to understand the dos and don’ts of copyright and libel law before posting. Learn how you can say everything you want and need to say without being exposed to legal risks.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Use Google Apps to Workflow Like a Pro
Learn how to measure impact in journalism and why it’s becoming a valuable and necessary skill in today’s newsrooms. Set yourself apart by knowing not only how to do work that drives real-world change, but also how to make sure that change gets noticed. Learn how to tell the story of your reporting just as effectively as you tell others’ stories.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

DigitalEd Panel: How to Get Better Video Metrics
Are you putting more resources into video? As publishers increase the time they spend producing content for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other video platforms, they need better insights into what works and what doesn’t. This online panel will include a discussion by top publishers who are at the forefront of using video metrics to drive better engagement with their audience. We’ll discuss the reliability of video metrics and how to go beyond basic view counts to metrics such as over- and underperformance, recirculation and benchmarking. We’ll also hear tricks that leading publishers use to extract the most value out of the analytics tools they use in their own organizations.
Producer: MediaShift, sponsored by Parse.ly
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: Free

How to Measure Impact in Journalism
Learn how to measure impact in journalism and why it’s becoming a valuable and necessary skill in today’s newsrooms. Set yourself apart by knowing not only how to do work that drives real-world change, but also how to make sure that change gets noticed. Learn how to tell the story of your reporting just as effectively as you tell others’ stories.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Use Instagram as a Reporting Tool
With more than 600 million people on Instagram, this popular photo-sharing platform has become a powerful tool for journalists around the world. My Instagram followers tagged along with me as I reported stories for PRI’s The World and the BBC from mountain villages in Nepal, truck yards in Pakistan, the multi-cultural neighborhoods of South Africa, and more. In this course, you’ll learn the principles of using Instagram to report and photograph stories in the field. Whether you’re covering a local protest or trekking on a glacier with scientists, Instagram can help you generate interest in your story before your final report airs or goes to press.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Snapchat for Journalists and Storytellers
Snapchat has become a legitimate distribution outlet for the media, including by CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Vox, Mashable, BuzzFeed and many more. This training will explain why Snapchat is here to stay — and how journalists and storytellers can use it to strengthen their audience engagement.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Get the Most Out of Content Analytics
Do you want to get the most out of your analytics? Not sure where to start? A majority of digital media professionals don’t even have a common definition of audience engagement within their organization. This training will give you an overview of ways to get the most out of your analytics—starting with the best ways to define audience engagement. There’s also a chance for one-to-one feedback from the instructor.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Clean Up Your Audio in Video Production
Learn a few easy tips on how to clean up your audio using any microphones and noise reduction. Good video deserves good audio whether it is for TV or the web. This webinar will attempt to show broadcasters and reporters a few tips on gathering clean audio and a few tips on cleaning up audio that may have background “hiss” or “hum.” It’s hard to hear these with the human ear but a microphone picks up all, so don’t let a bad mic or bad mic placement ruin an otherwise great video production. This webinar is designed for anyone from the novice to the professional filmmaker and video creator.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Launch a Killer Newsletter
Newsletter expert Jacqueline Boltik, who helped develop projects such as Ann Friedman’s Weekly and the LA Times’ newsletters and journalism professor Daniela Gerson, who recently created Migratory Notes, break down what you need to know to make your newsletter take off. Newsletters are the most direct way to build an audience, and are expanding. The Skimm, the Post Most, Lenny Letter, LA Times’ Essential Californian, #awesomewomen are just a few examples of the varied forms in which they are developing.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Facebook Live for Journalists
In the changing world of social media, Facebook Live is the new big thing. Facebook’s own algorithm favors this live element, drawing more viewers and followers to your page. But, how can journalists use it effectively to get past the “gimmick” idea and make it something useful for viewers and for journalists? We’ll explore some of the best practices to maximize use and effectiveness of Facebook live for journalists and media organizations alike.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Building Trust on Facebook
How can journalists stand out in a minefield of misinformation? See what 14 newsrooms learned when they used their social platforms to experiment with trust-building strategies. We’ll show you what they tried, what worked for different kinds of newsrooms and what totally fell flat.
Producer: Poynter News University
Place: Online
Price: Free

Getting Started With 360-Degree Video
Been seeing all those great 360° news stories but don’t know where to start? Let us help. News organizations across the world have adopted 360° technology in their reporting process. From breaking news to documentaries, newsrooms are bringing their readers and viewers closer to the story. Don’t let those pricey 360° video rigs intimidate you. Getting started with immersive storytelling is easier than you think. This training will walk you through the process of choosing the right equipment, from camera to rigging gear, planning your shoot and knowing if 360° video works for your story. You will learn how 360° videos are edited and how to pick the right platform to host your story.
Place: Online with BigMarker
Producer: MediaShift
Price: $19

Savvy Digital Journalism: Best Practices for Writing for the Web
Master the basics of digital journalism. This course is for both novice journalists who want to lay the groundwork as a digital writer, as well as seasoned writers who may be shifting from print to web.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $129

Skills in 60: Instagram Marketing Starter Kit
Get Instagram savvy and build your brand! In just one hour, this course will teach you how to effectively market your Instagram presence by crafting visually creative content, analyze key metrics to grow your audience and navigate the ever-changing social media landscape.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $49

Infographics and Visual Data
When combined with a compelling narrative, infographics are one of the fastest and most effective ways to help viewers make connections and grasp complex topics. This course will teach you how to conceptualize, design, and execute infographics using free and simple tools.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $129

How to Build and Teach an Online Course
New technology and tools are transforming the learning experience and creating new opportunities — and challenges — for educators at high schools, community colleges, and four-year universities. In this online training, you’ll learn how to organize a course and plan modules in a learning management system — whether you’re transitioning an existing course or starting one from scratch. You’ll also get a chance to try out tech tools to enhance the online educational experience, understand how to develop relationships with students in an online environment and discover new techniques for creating robust discussion among students in the class.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

Smarter Audience Analytics for Journalists
Do you get bored reading your own analytics report? Are you only reporting numbers. Analytics are a powerful tool, but only reporting pageviews and other statistics doesn’t change how a newsroom operates. In this training, we’ll look at how you can put analytics to work for you. What is your baseline? What measures do you use to determine a post’s success? What do analytics tell you about your audience? How can you turn that insight into actionable items by your staff? This session will help you utilize analytics to learn from your audience and find ways to build on successes.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Make News Bots Work For You
Robot journalism is one of the year’s hot topics as more media brands are experimenting with the automated delivery of news on mobile. Some bots are completely automated services that mimic a normal text conversation, but most involve some human intervention. In this online training, John Keefe, Senior Editor for Data News & Journalism Technology at WNYC, will explain how bots work and how journalists can use them to enhance their reporting and improve efficiency.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift and CUNYJ+
Place: Online
Price: $19

An Introduction to DocumentCloud
DocumentCloud is a catalog of primary source documents and a tool for annotating, organizing and publishing them on the web. Documents are contributed by journalists, researchers and archivists. We’re helping reporters get more out of documents and helping newsrooms make their online presence more engaging.
Place: online
Producer: Investigative Reporters & Editors
Price: free

Marketing with Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr
Market your brand using Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. This course will give you the knowledge of each of these platforms and enable you to identify the most appropriate ways to implement them to meet your business objectives.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $149

Skills in 60: Build an Editorial Calendar for Social Media Channels
This in-depth short course will show you how to develop integrated editorial content calendars and establish a robust production and publishing strategy across all your social channels. The video lessons will guide you on how to plan, create, distribute and analyze your editorial calendar for long term success.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $49

Twitter Marketing
Become a better, smarter marketer with Twitter to generate word-of-mouth, create leads, and grow your business. From hashtag strategy to deep data dives, influencer outreach to employing an effective posting schedule, you’ll master Twitter 140 characters at a time.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $129

Whose Truth? Tools for Smart Science Journalism in the Digital Age
As journalists, we ignore science not only at our own peril, but at the peril of our readers, viewers and listeners. In this course, you’ll learn to how make sense of scientific data and tell stories in ways that connect with your audience. You’ll get techniques and tips to improve your interviewing and reporting skills. You’ll also learn how to lift the veil from front groups to launch investigations based on informed fact-gathering. When you’re done, you’ll have a toolkit of ways to identify and overcome the barriers journalists face when reporting on science-related topics.
Place: online
Producer: Poynter’s NewsU
Price: free

Social Media Master Class Part I
MediaShift’s Social Media Editor Julie Keck will lead you through using some of the most powerful publishing tools any media professional can use. You can learn how to optimize your feeds, post the right amount each day, and help promote your content or projects better. You can establish yourself as an authority using the right mix of social media platforms and skills. And most of all, it’s fun. Don’t be intimidated or overwhelmed by social media – you can do it!
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

Social Media Master Class Part II
You’ve established yourself on social media, but you want to grow your audience. How do you get people talking about your content without seeming too self-promoting? Learn to harness the power of #hashtags, run a popular live Twitter chat, find out what’s trending today and how to jump in at the right moment with the right content.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

DigitalEd: Smartphone Filmmaking 101
Whether you’re shooting coverage for your high-concept documentary, making a low-budget music video for your band, or shooting pick-ups for your corporate online PSA, there are a multitude ways to use your phone as a legitimate route for production. This training will illustrate the use of the iPhone as a low-budget professional production camera. We’ll include short practical tips on shooting techniques, emerging technology, apps and software alongside of traditional tips and tricks that can be added to a smartphone in order to make it a more robust production camera.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

When a Staff Isn’t a Staff: Managing Freelancers
In today’s freelance economy, more and more workers are seeing the benefits of working as a freelancer or contractor. But what does that mean for the businesses that employ them? With a lean staff, many publications rely on freelance contributors, so it’s to everybody’s benefit to make that relationship a good one. Good freelancer relationships don’t just fall out of the sky. In this webinar, you’ll learn what makes freelancers happy (it’s more than just money!), how to cultivate good freelance relationships, and best practices for managing a sprawling, remote staff. With successful freelancer management, you’ll enjoy loyal, capable contributors and a robust publication.
Place: online
Producer: Poynter’s NewsU
Price: $29.95

How to Design a Brand
Learn how to design your brand by setting yourself apart from other businesses in your industry, build your own unique brand identity, conceptualize your logo design and creative direction, and apply your branding to establish credibility and increase exposure.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $40

How to Crowdfund 10K
Learn how to raise $10,000 by designing a one-of-a-kind crowdfunding campaign. Learn how to set goals and better prepare yourself for a campaign launch. Once your campaign launches, you’ll be an expert on methods of raising the most money, and how to design a professional page.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $30

How to Livestream on YouTube
Have you ever wanted to broadcast — live — but weren’t exactly sure how to do it, or what tools to use? Learn the technical nuts and bolds of how to livestream anything on YouTube, and how to market your show so people will see it.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $25

How to Tell a Story to Build a Community
Do you need to build a following, but are not sure how to tell your story to grow your community? Learn how to tell a story that will help others relate to you and your mission to take action.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $40

Verification: The Basics
When a violent protest, mass-scale accident, or natural hazard unfolds, information tends to get jumbled, causing fear and confusion. With the growing use of technology, we have witnessed innumerable false and fake stories being shared on social networks, including photoshopped images, or reuploaded diced videos from unrelated events in the past. With increasing frequency, journalists are required to master the skills and expertise to handle the information that circulates on the Internet and elsewhere. Complementing our recently launched resource, the Verification Handbook, this course will provide the basic knowledge and techniques of verification in the digital age.
Place: online
Producer: Learno
Price: free

Your Photojournalism Survival Kit with Ron Haviv
Ron Haviv brings two decades of experience in building a photojournalism career on carefully laid groundwork. In this course, you’ll learn how to identify a captivating story and organize a plan for shooting it; how to create a budget and a pitch letter; and how to plan for any eventuality during the shoot, and cope with setbacks when they strike.
Place: online
Producer: Ron Haviv, Emmy-nominated photojournalist
Price: $79

Design Thinking: Story Design and Testing
Design thinking is a people-centered approach to problem solving that encourages collaborative brainstorming and diverse ideation through systematic strategies and processes. Used in a variety of fields, from product design to web development, design thinking serves as a powerful model for flexible and dynamic critical thinking that puts the audience/user at the center of idea generation. In this session, Dr. Palilonis will share a number of design thinking strategies and explain how they can be used by communication and media professionals to inspire innovative, engaging approaches to storytelling. Dr. Palilonis will also share how she has used design thinking in a number of diverse projects, from working with USA Volleyball to promote the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball nationwide, to developing a digital literacy curriculum for K-3 students.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online at Bigmarker
Price: $19

How to Become a Mobile Ninja in the Field
We’re past the “Oh look! You can do journalism with a smartphone!” phase of mobile journalism. We know that using mobile devices gives us mobility, a production office in the field and a way to generate content quickly from the scene. Unfortunately, there are increasing demands for on-the-scene content to feed the social media machine. But every piece of content tweeted is time lost reporting. This training will show you how to use various mobile tools while reporting to quickly generate interesting direct-to-social content – without taking away reporting time. Each of the tools and techniques featured requires less than 90 seconds to create content that goes up to social media and lets you get back to reporting.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: $19

Facebook Live for Journalists
In the changing world of social media, Facebook Live is the new big thing. Facebook’s own algorithm favors this live element, drawing more viewers and followers to your page. But, how can journalists use it effectively to get past the “gimmick” idea and make it something useful for viewers and for journalists? We’ll explore some of the best practices to maximize use and effectiveness of Facebook live for journalists and media organizations alike.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online at Bigmarker
Price: $19

Transmedia Storytelling in Journalism
The mediascape of the 21st century is both a wicked problem and an unlimited opportunity for journalists. At the same time that powerful new storytelling tools have emerged our once-captive audiences have scattered into a dispersed mediascape. We can tell compelling stories like never before. But how do we get those stories in front of the publics that need them? A transmedia story unfolds in multiple media forms and across many media channels in an expansive rather than redundant way. This training will examine how Hollywood, Madison Avenue and journalism organizations like National Geographic and The Marshall Project use it to tell better and more complex stories and to reach audiences on the media they already use.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

More course listings are available at MediaShift’s DigitalEd, Poynter’s NewsU, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, Columbia Journalism School’s Continuing Education listings, Mediabistro and CreatorUp.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Upcoming Trainings and Courses: April 3 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

APRIL 2018

Reader Revenue: Building a Business with Your Audience
April 6, 2018
Consumer revenue is a hot topic for news organizations around the world, as more and more newsrooms ask their readers and viewers directly to support their work. But setting up a clear and actionable strategy for how you can build reader revenue into your business model isn’t easy — and there are many different options to consider. Join Montclair State University on April 6 for a day-long workshop on this topic. “Reader Revenue: How news organizations can build a business with their audience” will dive into topics including membership, subscriptions, paywalls and more.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Region III Conference
April 6-8, 2018
Atlanta, Ga.
The conference is set in the historic city of Atlanta, GA and coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of one of the greatest champions of truth Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Attendees will examine his life, legacy and the struggles that open the door for so many. Join NABJ as they work within this noteworthy city in the civil rights movement to understand the gains and losses in the decades following the passing of an icon.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 5 Conference: Chicago
April 6 – 7, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here. 

National Association of Broadcasters Show
April 7-12, 2018
NAB Show is where ground-breaking technology is unveiled, innovative solutions are displayed and game-changing trends are exposed. Explore aisle after aisle of awesome tech, cool gear, smart software, capable cloud solutions and limitless ideas and inspiration.
More information and registration here.

Broadcasters Education Assocation 2018
April 7-10, 2018
Today’s media is being challenged by a changing workforce and audience. The audience is searching for and watching media that reflects them and their experience. On the other side of the camera, the industry has been slow to include the wide variety of voices and skilled professionals who can allow the industry to better move forward to serve the changing audience.  This is the challenge of inclusive media – leveraging the multiple backgrounds, perspectives and ideas of storytellers to create engaging media for a diverse audience.
More information and registration here.

Digital Media Europe 2018
April 10-11, 2018
Copenhagen, Denmark
The only truly European conference focused on digital revenue is coming back to Copenhagen. And for good reason: Denmark is officially the most digital country among the 28 EU member states.
More information and registration here.

PacificVis 2018
April 10-13, 2018
Kobe, Japan
The 11th IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium (PacificVis 2018) will be held in Kobe, Japan during April 10 to 13, 2018. Visualization has become an increasingly important research area due to its wide range of applications in many disciplines. PacificVis is an IEEE sponsored international visualization symposium held in the Asia-Pacific region, with the objective to foster greater exchange between visualization researchers and practitioners, and to draw more researchers in the Asia-Pacific region to enter this rapidly growing area of research.
More information and registration here.

International Journalism Festival
April 11-15, 2018
The festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It’s an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees, all venues are situated in the stunning setting of the historic town centre of Perugia.
More information and registration here.

National JEA/NSPA Journalism Conventions
April 12-15, 2018
San Francisco, Calif.
The National High School Journalism Convention is a semiannual gathering of high school journalists and advisers sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and its partner, the National Scholastic Press Association. The associations partner to prepare hundreds of practical and professional learning sessions, from high-profile keynotes to specific, problem-solving breakouts, hands-on workshops and discussion groups. Other convention activities include an exhibit hall with vendors who sell to student media, JEA’s on-site Write-off contests, NSPA’s Best of Show contest, receptions, awards convocations, critiques, career round tables and evening entertainment.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Region I Conference
April 13-14, 2018
New York City
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will host its 2018 Region 1 Conference April 13 and 14, 2018 in New York City. The Global Diversity Summit is bringing together hundreds of journalists, communication professionals and students from across the U.S. Northeast to attend the two-day conference.
More information and registration here.

International Symposium on Online Journalism
April 13-14, 2018
Austin, TX
Since 1999, journalists, media executives and scholars from around the world have had an annual meeting in Austin, Texas to discuss the impact of the digital revolution on  journalism. The International Symposium on Online Journalism is a program of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, a unique conference that bridges the gap between academia and the news industry.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 2 Conference: Richmond, Va.
April 13 – 14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 6 Conference: Bloomington, Minn.
April 13-14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 7 Conference: Ames, Iowa
April 13-14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

2018 Portland Watchdog Workshop
April 14, 2018
IRE will offer several of its core sessions, designed to improve your ability to find information on the Web quickly, and point you to key documents and data that will help you add depth to your daily work and produce quick-hit enterprise stories. In addition, this workshop will give you tips on bulletproofing stories, digging deeper on the Web with social media, search engines and much more.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 7 Conference: Ames, Iowa
April 20 – 22, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 9 Conference: Denver, Colo.
April 20 – 22, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

2018 Washington D.C. Watchdog Workshop
April 21, 2018
IRE will offer several of its core sessions, designed to improve your ability to find information on the Web quickly, and point you to key documents and data that will help you add depth to your daily work and produce quick-hit enterprise stories. In addition, this workshop will give you tips on bulletproofing stories, digging deeper on the Web with social media, search engines and much more.
More information and registration here.

For the Love of Journalism 2018
April 21-22, 2018
Celebrate the love of journalism and learn new skills for two days in the city where Freedom of the Press got its start. The Society of Professional Journalists Regional Spring Conference will take place April 21 and 22 at Temple University in Philadelphia. We’ll have sessions on Facebook and Google tools, building your online brand, covering sex harassment and the marijuana business and a conversation on the future of journalism in Philadelphia.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Ethics Week
April 23 – 27, 2018
SPJ’s Code of Ethics states that ethical journalism is truthful, compassionate, independent and transparent. We need ethical journalism — and journalists who work each day with the profession’s highest standards in mind — now more than ever. The goal of Ethics Week is to not only help journalists explain how they ethically cover stories, but to share with the public information about what journalists do, how to identify ethical journalism, where to find it and how to support it.
More information and registration here.

Lenfest Learning Seminar
April 24-25, 2018 (Application deadline March 23.)
This is a one-day un-conference with only 30 specialists whose main job revolves around newsletters, keeping discussions focused and highly practical. Starting with dinner the night before, participants will brainstorm and prepare for sessions the next day. Space is limited, so please apply as soon as possible before the March 23rd deadline.
More information and application here.

SPJ Region 11 Conference: Universal City, Calif.
April 27 – 28, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

MAY 2018 AND BEYOND

Collaborative Journalism Summit
May 10-11, 2018
Join other journalists, media executives, technologists and entrepreneurs from around the world for the 2018 Collaborative Journalism Summit. This year’s conference builds on the 2017 summit, which focused on case studies of successful collaborative projects and featured keynote speakers representing The Panama Papers, Google News Lab and Electionland.
More information and registration here.

Connecting Digital Media to Your Revenue Growth
June 4-5, 2018
Ops is the large-and-in-charge annual conference with over 700 digital strategists and media leaders coming together in NYC. The epicenter of the advertising industry lies in good operations. The Ops agenda is designed to connect the dots between ad operations and the many digital media job roles that touch it – revenue, marketing, sales, tech, and management.
More information and registration here.

2018 IRE Conference
June 14-17, 2018
Participants can reboot their skills, recharge their watchdog batteries and reconnect with the world’s largest network of investigative journalists during this year’s gathering in Orlando. They can from more than 150 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations, and learn how to improve reporting and storytelling across all platforms.
More information and registration here.

NAHJ and NAJA Convention 2018
July 18-21, 2018
Miami, Fla.
NAHJ and NAJA are headed to Miami this year. The International Training Conference and Career Fair brings together the top trainers to create a curriculum and hands on education to help advance careers and develop leaders in the newsroom.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Convention 2018
Aug. 1 – 5, 2018
Detroit, Mich.
The annual convention hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists will be held in Detroit this year. More information is to come.
More information and registration here.

2018 August CAR Boot Camp
Aug. 5, 2018
Columbia, Mo.
Learn how to acquire electronic information, use spreadsheets and databases to analyze the information and translate that information into high-impact stories. In addition, NICAR provides follow-up help when participants return to their news organizations.
More information and registration here.

AAJA Convention 2018
Aug. 8-11, 2018
Houston, TX
AAJA’s programming focuses on improving core skills and making sure our members return to their newsrooms equipped with the latest tools and trends. Their sessions and workshops have included topics ranging from the importance of AAPI experiences and identity, to fake news, VR, and navigating difficult conversations in the newsroom around race.
More information here.

2018 August Mapping Boot Camp
Aug. 10, 2018
Columbia, Mo.
IRE and NICAR conducts this hands-on training using the latest version of QGIS, a free and open-source mapping program. We will look at noteworthy stories that have used mapping and show you how to uncover stories using census and other data. The sessions will include address geocoding, thematic mapping, overlaying and spatial analysis.
More information and registration here.

Publisher Forum Huntington Beach
Aug. 12-15, 2018
Portland, Ore.
Publisher Forum conferences offer community, exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.
More information and registration here.

NLGJA Convention 2018
Sept. 6-9, 2018
Join more than 350 journalists, news executives, communications professionals and educators at the National Convention at the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs, September 6-9, 2018.
More information and registration here.

ONA18
Sept. 13-15, 2018
Record-breaking numbers of journalists travel to ONA’s conference each year to learn about new tools, techniques and technologies, to discuss advancements and challenges in the industry, take advantage of the rare opportunity to network face-to-face, and share best practices with peers from all over the map.
More information and registration here.

Excellence in Journalism 2018
Sept. 27-29, 2018
Baltimore, Md.
This year the Excellence in Journalism conference will be hosted by SPJ and RTDNA in Baltimore, Md.
More information and registration here.

Journalism Summit 2018
Sept. 28-30, 2018
Boston, Mass.
Organized by the Fourth Estate, Emerson College and Youth Journalism International, this weekend event in Boston will connect and engage journalism’s stakeholders through seminars, summits, workshops and networking events.
More information and registration here.

Society of Professional Journalists 2018
October 3-7, 2018
Flint, Mich.
Flint, Mich., site of the most serious drinking water crisis in modern U.S. history, will draw hundreds of working reporters from across North America when the University of Michigan-Flint hosts the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in 2018.
More information and registration here.

Digital Media North America 2018
October 19-20, 2018
New York City
This one and-a-half day event will provide a unique opportunity for North American news media executives to hear and discuss digital revenue strategy from the world’s most advanced media companies.
More information and registration here.

Publisher Forum Huntington Beach
Nov. 4-7, 2018
Cedar Creek, TX
Publisher Forum conferences offer community, exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.
More information and registration here.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, an independent journalist and social media consultant. She is a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Upcoming Events in Digital Media: April 2 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

APRIL 2018

The John B. Oakes Award
The John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, which carries a $5,000 prize, is given annually for news reporting that makes an exceptional contribution to the public’s understanding of environmental issues. The award was founded in 1993 by family, friends and colleagues of Oakes (1913-2001), who was an environmental journalism pioneer and an editorial writer for The New York Times.
Deadline: April 13, 2018

New Media Film Festival Awards
For years, The New Media Film Festival has led the way in the pursuit of stories worth telling, the exploration of new media technologies, boundary pushing resulting in new distribution models and creating and establishing new methodologies in the global monetization of content. A total of $45,000 in awards will be given out.
Deadline: April 25, 2018 (final)

MAY 2018

Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism
Since its inception in 2002, the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund has sought to support those journalists Kurt most admired, the freelancers and local reporters whose work is often poorly paid, mostly unsung and all too often fraught with danger.
Deadline: May 31, 2018

The Hastings Center’s Award for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics
Submissions are openfor The Hastings Center Award for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics. Three prizes will be given: a first prize of $6,000 and two runners-up of $3,000 each. The Hastings Center is a non-partisan, non-profit bioethics research institute in Garrison, NY.
Deadline: May 31, 2018

JUNE 2018 & BEYOND DEADLINES

Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award
From the generosity of the Lewis family, the award is given each year to a student SPJ member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the First Amendment through the field of journalism. The award assists a student with his/her attendance to SPJ’s annual convention.
Deadline: June 5, 2018

South Asian Digital Media Awards
The South Asian Digital Media Awards presented by WAN-IFRA recognize publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.
Deadline: June 16, 2018

Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award
The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation presents the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award to honor a person or persons who have fought to protect and preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Deadline: June 21, 2018

DEADLINES DOWN THE LINE

Society of Professional Journalists Awards
The Society of Professional Journalists has various awards for professional to collegiate journalists for excellence in various forms of media. Awards are rolling and there are several with deadlines in June. Please check the site for more details.

The Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative
Moment Magazine is launching a fellowship to support reporters pursuing investigative stories that address anti-Semitism, anti-Israel and other prejudices that threaten Jewish rights to dignity and self-determination. One grantee will be awarded $10,000 USD. Applicants will need to make the case for how their proposal addresses problems of anti-Semitism or anti-Israel prejudice in a new way or concentrates on an under-reported aspect of this issue.

The Cabot Prizes
The Columbia Journalism Awards
The prizes recognize a distinguished body of work that has contributed to Inter-American understanding.

Tribeca Snapchat Shorts
The Tribeca Film Festival and Snap Inc. are excited to bring back Tribeca Snapchat Shorts, now an official Festival category, created in an effort to discover visionary artists in the mobile space. This new category provides the perfect opportunity for people who are passionate about Snapchat and narrative storytelling to present their mastery of the smallest screen. The Festival and Snap Inc. are excited to support the next generation of storytellers and promote creativity on Snapchat.

IWMF African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative
The IWMF designed the African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative to support journalists committed to pursuing stories that go beyond the well-established path of political instability, armed conflicts, and humanitarian crisis in the region.

Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative to Expose Prejudice
DPIJI provides grants to journalists ages 22 to 38 to research and write in-depth stories about a modern manifestation of anti-Semitism or any other deeply ingrained prejudice. Each year, Moment—with the help of an advisory board of journalists—selects one DPIJI Fellow, who receives $5,000 ($2,500 upfront and $2,500 upon publication) to produce a story.

IWMF Awards
The fight for media freedom has never been more critical. For 28 years, the IWMF has been highlighting the work of brave women journalists and honoring their contributions to press freedom around the world. Join the IWMF this year in recognizing essential and diverse voices by submitting a nomination for the Courage in Journalism.

Inge Morath Award
The Magnum Foundation and the Inge Morath Foundation are pleased to announce the 16th annual Inge Morath Award, a $5,000 grant given to a female photographer under the age of 30 to support the completion of a long-term documentary project. One Awardee and up to two finalists are selected by a jury composed of Magnum photographers, the Executive Director of the Magnum Foundation, and Inge Morath Foundation.

John Chancellor Award
The John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, founded in 1995, is presented each year to a reporter with courage and integrity for cumulative professional accomplishments. The prize honors the legacy of pioneering television correspondent and longtime NBC News anchor John Chancellor.

Global Shining Light Award
Every two years, the Global Investigative Journalism Network presents the Global Shining Light Award, a unique award which honors investigative journalism in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.

NAHJ Ñ Awards
Six awards will be presented within the Print/Digital, Television, Photography and Radio categories. There will also be two Vanguard Awards – The Al Neuharth Award for Investigative Journalism and the NAHJ Elaine Rivera Civil Rights & Social Justice Award.

National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame Award
Do you know someone who is making a difference for Latinos in journalism? Someone who’s coverage of the Latino community goes beyond the who, what, when, where and how? Maybe you know an educator who is grooming young Latino journalists into future stars?

Ed Bradley Scholarship
Ed Bradley is best known for his award-winning work in 26 years on CBS News’ 60 Minutes and as the first African American White House TV correspondent. Bradley established the Ed Bradley Scholarship in 1994. Since then, 20 young, aspiring journalists have received the award created by the late CBS News and 60 Minutes correspondent.

RTDNA Undergraduate Scholarships
Scholarships are open to undergraduate students pursuing careers in radio, television, or digital journalism.  Winners must be officially enrolled, full-time sophomores, juniors or seniors in good standing when scholarships are awarded for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Gli Occhi Della Guerra
Gli Occhi Della Guerra is opening its newsroom for those who dream of being a reporter. Contestants will have the chance to present their projects that they have never had the chance to develop. A panel of judges comprising of reporters, journalists, photographers will select the best two projects, to which all expenses will be covered and that will be published on the Italian online newspaper www.ilgiornale.it as well as on the website www.gliocchidellaguerra.it.

Online Journalism Awards
The Online Journalism Awards (OJAs), launched in May 2000, are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism around the world.

Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing
The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research.

Collaborative Reporting Project Open Call
Six reporting projects will be selected to win a $7,000 grant through the Collaborative Reporting Project. The Center for Cooperative Media is interested in hearing from local news outlets across the U.S., and are particularly interested in projects that include collaboration with technologists. The proposals should include original reporting.

Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
The award recognizes excellence in broadcast, documentary and digital journalism.

Future of Storytelling Prize
Immersive, narrative-driven projects have a chance to win $5,000. Submissions that may include, but are not limited to: virtual, mixed, and augmented reality; web-based, audio, and data-driven works; mobile apps; narrative games; multimedia installations; and multi-platform projects.

International Documentary Association’s  33rd Annual IDA Documentary Awards
The IDA Documentary Awards recognize the best nonfiction films and programs of the year. Award recipients are announced at the IDA Documentary Awards in December in Los Angeles. Entry is open to any documentary, non-fiction or factual program that qualifies for one of the main award categories.

Heroes of the 50 States: The State Government Hall of Fame
Annually, the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Freedom of Information Coalition recognizes such an individual — someone whose service, accomplishments and contributions have left a legacy at the state and local level.

Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability
The National Center on Disability and Journalism is now accepting entries for the 2017 Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, the only journalism contest devoted exclusively to disability coverage. Journalists working in digital, print and broadcast media are eligible to enter.

Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award
The Thomson Foundation, in partnership with the UK Foreign Press Association (FPA), is inviting young journalists from around the world to submit their most compelling stories. Now leading into its fifth year, the Young Journalist Award is Thomson Foundation’s annual journalism competition, dedicated to finding and inspiring ambitious and emerging journalistic talent from across the globe.

UN Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UNDP/GEF Small Grant Programme have teamed again with tve to launch a video competition for the best youth climate projects happening around the globe. Send an inspiring video diary, a maximum of three minutes long.

North American Digital Media Awards
These awards, presented by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, recognize publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.

PILOT Innovation Challenge
PILOT is calling on all entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and creative thinkers to submit their ideas for accelerating broadcast innovation in the PILOT Innovation Challenge. The challenge question: How might local television and radio broadcasters engage their communities with next generation content on any device, whether big, small or moving?

The Bookmarks Awards
The Bookmarks Awards, based in South Africa, honor excellence in digital work, from websites, app development and games to multimedia and digital journalism.

2018 Dart Awards
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
Since 1994, the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma have honored innovative, ethical and effective reporting on the impact of violence, crime, disaster and other traumatic events, focusing on the experiences of victims and survivors and contributing to public understanding of trauma-related issues.

NYU Journalism Reporting Award
The Reporting Award provides support of up to $12,500 for a work of journalism in any medium on significant underreported subjects in the public interest. In establishing the award, the Carter Journalism Institute’s faculty cited the need for encouraging enterprise journalism during a time of extensive layoffs and budget cuts throughout the journalism industry.

Mark of Excellence Awards
The Mark of Excellence Awards honors the best in collegiate journalism. Judged at the regional and national level, the annual competition offers 51 categories in newspapers, magazines, photography, radio, television and online journalism.

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are the most prestigious honor for professional journalists under the age of 35. Print, broadcast, digital and innovative storytelling entries are accepted. Prizes of $10,000 are awarded in local, national and international reporting.

The Richard M. Clurman Award for Mentoring
The Clurman Award honors superb on-the-job mentors who improve journalism by exemplifying excellence in nurturing, critiquing and inspiring young journalists. The Clurman Award is presented at the Livingston Awards luncheon in June. Past recipients include Gwen Ifill, Tom Brokaw, Judy Woodruff and Paul Steiger.

Asian Digital Media Awards
The awards honor Asian publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.

The Shorty Awards
Millions of people participate in The Shortys to recognize individuals and organizations producing great content on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, YouNow, Musical.ly, and the rest of the social web.

Mirror Awards
Now in their twelfth year, the Mirror Awards are the most important awards for honoring excellence in media industry reporting. Established by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, the awards honor the reporters, editors and teams of writers who hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.

Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism
Established in 1999 by Seattle broadcasting legend Ancil Payne (1921–2004), the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism honors media organizations and journalists who report with integrity and character in the face of personal, political, or economic pressure.

Knight International Journalism Awards (Call for Nominations)
Each November, the International Center for Journalists honors outstanding colleagues with the Knight International Journalism Award at its annual gala in Washington, D.C. ICFJ is seeking nominees whose pioneering coverage or media innovations have a significant impact on the lives of people around the world. Candidates can be reporters, editors, technologists, media managers, citizen journalists or bloggers.

New America Award
The Society of Professional Journalists’ New America Award honors public service journalism that explores and exposes an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities currently living in the United States.

SPJ Sigma Chai Delta Awards
he Sigma Delta Chi Awards date back to 1932, when the Society first honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the organization awarded the first Distinguished Service Awards. These awards later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards. The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in categories covering print, radio, television, newsletters, art/graphics, online and research.

SPJ High School Essay Contest
The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Journalism Education Association want to increase high school students’ knowledge and understanding of the importance of independent media to our lives. National winners of this essay contest receive scholarship awards.
Deadline: Feb. 23, 2018

The Molly National Journalism Prize 2018
The MOLLY Prize is an annual national print or online journalism award of $5,000 with two honorable mentions of $1,000 each to be presented by the Texas Democracy Foundation and the Texas Observer in memory of Molly Ivins.

Nomination Deadline: SPJ Black Hole Award
he Society of Professional Journalists launched the Black Hole Award to highlight the most heinous violations of the public’s right to know. By exposing such abuses, SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee seeks to educate the public about their rights and call attention to those who would interfere with openness and transparency.

Middle East Digital Media Awards
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
The awards honor Middle Eastern publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.

Charlie Ericksen Internship Supplement
The NAHJ Washington, D.C. awards one internship supplement, named after Hispanic Link News Service Founder Charlie Ericksen, to a student who is interning at a Washington D.C. Area news outlet.

Meyer “Mike” Berger Award
The Meyer “Mike” Berger Award and its $2,000 cash prize are awarded for outstanding human interest reporting across platforms.

North America Digital Media Awards 2018
These awards, presented by WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, recognise publishers who have adopted digital media and mobile strategies as part of their total product offering to meet the major changes in how people consume news and information today.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Media and Journalism Awards: March 29 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

MARCH 2018

Spotlight Investigative Journalism Fellowship
Open Road Films and Participant Media, with support from First Look Media, are sponsoring a fellowship of up to $100,000 to be awarded by The Boston Globe for one or more individuals or teams of journalists to work on in-depth research and reporting projects. The chosen journalist(s) will collaborate with established investigative reporters and editors from The Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Spotlight Team.
Deadline: March 31, 2018

APRIL 2018 & BEYOND

Mother Jones Ben Bagdikian Fellowship
The Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program offers a crash course in investigative journalism. Mother Jones fellows dive deep into every aspect of a national multimedia outfit—from making news to making it pretty, ensuring its impact, and mastering the inner workings of nonprofit publishing. Fellowship positions include:
Deadline: April 1, 2018

Economics of Aging and Work Journalism Fellowship
During a 10-month fellowship period, the selected journalist will develop the analytical research skills needed to create a series of news reports dealing with the economics of the aging workforce in the United States to be distributed by AP to its global worldwide audience of thousands of subscribers and customers across all media platforms.
Deadline: April 2, 2018

IRE Freelance Fellowship
Awards of $1,000 or more are available to assist in conducting investigative projects. These fellowships for journalists who make their living primarily as freelancers were created in 2008.
Deadline: April 2, 2018

MacDowell Colony’s Art of Journalism Fellowship
The Art of Journalism is advancing MacDowell’s legacy of supporting some of the finest voices in non-fiction, from the essays of James Baldwin to Frances Fitzgerald’s investigations into the Vietnam War.
Deadline: April 15, 2018

IRE Diversity Fellowship
Established by the Philip L. Graham Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to attend IRE’s conferences. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

Jennifer Leonard Scholarship
The award sends women of modest means who are college students studying journalism or professional journalists with three or fewer years of working experience to IRE’s conferences.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

James Richard Bennett Scholarships
The scholarship sends a limited number of college students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma or Louisiana to attend the annual IRE conference. The scholarships are made possible by a donation to IRE by Dr. James R. Bennett, professor emeritus of English, University of Arkansas.
Deadline: April 23, 2018

American University Graduate Fellowship with The Washington Post
Location: Washington D.C.
Applicants must apply and be accepted to American University’s Journalism & Public Affairs master’s program. “The successful launch of an ongoing fellowship program offers Fellows full tuition plus a $30,000 yearly stipend and the chance to work side-by-side with top journalists at The Washington Post, one of the world’s leading news organizations.”
Deadline: April 30

Greenberg World Fellows Program
The Greenberg World Fellows Program, which is part of Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, provides the opportunity for World Fellows to contribute to Yale’s intellectual life, participate in events, and collaborate with peers, audit classes, mentor students and lead round-table discussions. The mission of Yale World Fellows is to cultivate and empower a network of globally engaged leaders committed to making the world a better place. The 2017 program will run from mid-August to mid-December and fellows will get a stipend to cover the costs of living in New Haven.
Deadline: Varies

ROLLING DEADLINES

Gender and LGBTI Rights Reporting Fellowship
The International Reporting Project is accepting applications from professional journalists to report on gender and LGBTI rights around the world. Applicants may propose any stories that focus on gender rights or LGBTI rights (or both).
Deadline: TBD

Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship
To foster, promote, sustain and improve the best traditions of American journalism, the Alicia Patterson Foundation will provide support for journalists engaged in rigorous, probing, spirited, independent and skeptical work that will benefit the public. The foundation will support journalism and will foster a community of journalists engaged in truthfully informing the public.
Deadline: Rolling

International Reporting Project Religion Fellowship
The International Reporting Project (IRP) is accepting proposals to report on global religion issues. Possible topics include conflict and peace; environment and sustainability; political economy and development; health and education; gender, race and sexuality; law and human rights; social movements; migration; and humanitarianism.
Deadline: Rolling

Outside Editorial Fellowship
The fellowship is a six-month, paid position in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Duties include fact-checking, reporting, research, proofreading, and assorted support chores for the editorial department. Fellows occasionally have the opportunity to write short pieces for the magazine and website, and they will attend editorial meetings, work closely with top editors, and gain hands-on experience at an award-winning magazine.
Deadline: Rolling

Holly Whisenhunt Stephen Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Send broadcast and/or radio journalists to IRE’s week-long Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. The fellowships were established by IRE and WTHR-Indianapolis to honor Stephen, an award-winning journalist and longtime IRE member who died in Nov. 2008 after a long battle with cancer.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

Ottaway Fellowships, Investigative Reporters & Editors
Established by David Ottaway and the Ottaway Family Fund to send a limited number of professional journalists to IRE’s week-long Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) Boot Camp series. These fellowships are aimed at increasing the diversity of IRE’s membership. Applicants for this award should identify themselves with one of the following minority groups: Black/African American, American Indian/Alaskan, Native American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

R-CAR Fellowship, Investigative Reporters & Editors
The Fund for Rural Computer-Assisted Reporting helps a journalist from a news organization in a rural area attend one of IRE’s week-long CAR boot camps. It was established by IRE member Daniel Gilbert to give rural reporters skills that will help them uncover stories that otherwise would not come to light. The fellowship is offered in conjunction with The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.
Deadline: Rolling — 60 days before the Boot Camp you are applying to attend.

IN PROGRESS OR FUTURE FELLOWSHIPS

California Endowment Fellowship
Latino USA, a weekly show distributed by NPR and produced by The Futuro Media Group, is taking applications for the first of two (2) year-long California-based fellowships. We are seeking graduate students, recent graduates from a journalism program or young professionals with a passionate interest in reporting on California communities and health inequities.

Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship for Innovation in Journalism
The Martha’s Vineyard Fellowship for Innovation in Journalism, created in association with the Noepe Center for the Literary Arts, will select a fellow who will work with reporters, editors and the Gazette’s webmaster in the Vineyard Gazette newsroom on a specific project that draws on publicly available data sources to create a dynamic news page. The Gazette has created the fellowship to promote experimentation and to cultivate the use of technology and multimedia in a traditional newsroom setting. Now in its second year, the fellowship is designed to give the fellow the experience of working in a small community newsroom while introducing the newspaper staff to new ideas and skills.

The Charles Koch Institute’s Media and Journalism Fellowship
The Charles Koch Institute’s Media and Journalism Fellowship provides promising writers, reporters, and multimedia professionals the opportunity to develop and refine their professional skills while working full-time in the industry. The year-long fellowship offers world-class curriculum and an individualized experience—including summits, online webinars, professional skills training, industry speakers, and mentoring—for the next generation of journalists and storytellers.

Public Interest Technology Fellowship
New America’s Public Interest Technology Fellowship Program is an ambitious new initiative designed to support an emerging public interest technology sector in America—the application of technology knowledge skills in policymaking and public service to help solve public problems.

2017 Next Gen Radio Early Career Fellowship
The Next Generation Radio Fellowship is a week-long digital journalism training project designed to give competitively selected participants, who are interested in radio and journalism, the skills and opportunity to report and produce their own multimedia story.

ICFJ Bringing Home the World Fellowship
The Bringing Home the World Fellowship helps U.S.-based minority journalists cover compelling yet under-reported international stories, increasing the diversity of voices in global news. The program helps level the playing field and redress the inequality minority journalists often face by giving them the opportunity to report from overseas and advance their careers.

Gwen Ifill/PBS NewsHour Journalism Fellow
The Gwen Ifill/PBS NewsHour Journalism Fellowship for current undergraduate and graduate students is a 10-week, paid position where you can gain hands-on, real-world experience working on “PBS NewsHour.”

Global Religion Issues Reporting Fellowship
The International Reporting Project accepts applications from professional journalists to report on global religion issues. Some of the areas on which proposals might focus include the relationship of religion to conflict and peace, environment and sustainability, political economy and development, health and education and gender, race and sexuality.

JAWS CAMP Fellowship
Each year the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) brings fellows to its annual Conference and Mentoring Project (CAMP) for three days of training, networking and professional development.

Naughton Fellowship
After two years, Poynter is reopening its Naughton Fellowship, a one-year position allowing the recipient to create journalism about journalism alongside the team of media reporters in St. Petersburg, Florida. The fellowship, which is named after former Poynter president and New York Times correspondent Jim Naughton, has been retooled this year to focus on visual journalism.

N.S. Bienstock Fellowship
An award established in 1999 by Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper, the original owners of N.S. Bienstock. Acquired by United Talent Agency in 2014, the firm now known as Bienstock, a UTA Company has been a leading talent agency in news and reality-based programming for more than 50 years and is a long-time member of RTDNA. This award recognizes a promising minority journalist in radio or television news.

Michele Clark Fellowship
RTDNF’s first fellowship is named for Michele Clark, the CBS News correspondent who was killed in a plane crash while on assignment in 1972. This fellowship is awarded to a young, promising minority professional in television or radio news.

Vada and Col. Barney Oldfield National Security Reporting Fellowship
Established by the RTDNF Board of Trustees in honor of Vada and Col. Barney Oldfield. Barney and Vada served in WWII and both had illustrious military careers. Barney’s long and impressive career included a stint as a Hollywood studio publicist, WWII Army and post-war Air Force public relations officer, author, and lecturer. Col. Oldfield was also a businessman and philanthropist who founded over 40 private foundations including RTDNF. This fellowship is awarded to a reporter or producer in radio or television news engaged covering national defense and security

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor of MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Media and Journalism Fellowships: March 28 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

A group of filmmakers in Canada took their project one step further — by adding an interactive game element to their project.

“Thank You For Playing,” produced by the National Film Board of Canada, is part documentary film and part web game. The game simulates how casino games that reward users with positive reinforcement can lead to gambling addiction.

In Canada, revenue from gambling is used for infrastructure, health care, social services — and even preventing and treating gambling addiction. More than 35 percent of those revenues come from individuals with a gambling problem, according to the film.

It’s a paradox that the film’s director, Andréa Cohen-Boulakia, said she found fascinating. The goal of “Thank You For Playing,” which was released in December, is to bring awareness to the public health issue of gambling addiction. The filmmakers initially intended to focus on how the casino industry targets elderly people who often have a lot of free time, money to spend and are no longer active in society.

But after spending months traveling throughout towns and provinces across Canada to do research and interview prospective characters, Cohen-Boulakia found a more compelling story: the risk of gambling addiction as a result of being in a vulnerable emotional state. She saw that, as with any vice, some individuals are more prone to addiction than others. For most gambling addicts, the addiction is the outcome — not the original source of an individual’s problems.

“People talk about this being an emotional disease,” she said. “When you’re in a place where you’re emotionally wounded, you’re much more vulnerable. That’s what this is about.”

The Interactive Game 

The film opens up with a digital version of the shell game: the viewer, now the player, is presented with three icons. The icons are quickly shuffled and the film’s narrator directs the player to watch closely in order to uncover the icon that’s in the shape of a heart.

As the game continues, there are more icons are they are shuffled faster as the game becomes more challenging.

“Now you think you’re in control,” the narrator says. “But the game is programmed to let you win just often enough to condition your behavior. What is happening is called positive reinforcement.”

The viewer can then choose to watch one of three stories, each about a different subject who is recovering from a gambling addiction. Those characters, including one subject whose three-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with leukemia, explain how they saw gambling as an escape from their personal problems. The chapters of the film are interspersed between more opportunities to play the shell game, which continues to increase in difficulty.

The slot machine-like game allows the viewer, who has now become the player, to witness firsthand the adrenaline rush and excitement that come with winning a game — as well as the desire to keep playing. That’s an especially important component to include when the three subjects of the film cannot touch a machine themselves.

Andréa Cohen-Boulakia

Merging the interactive game with the documentary film scenes proved challenging and took more than one try to get right. Cohen-Boulakia described the two pieces as different “stories.”

“We wanted it to be interesting and enriching,” she said. “How can both formats, really different formats, mix together in order to give the audience a better understanding of the issue?”

Both the game and the film had the same goal — to educate. The goal was to have the game not match the experience of the characters in the film, but to create a new parallel and connecting experience. That required a team effort between the programmers and the producers, and it’s the part of the whole project that took the longest to complete, Cohen-Boulakia said.

The Film’s Impact

Cohen-Boulakia said as an educational tool, she hopes the film will bring more awareness about addiction and lead to more open discussions about what leads someone to go down that path.

Ideally, the risk and reward aspect of playing the game can offer insight into how individual might feel while gambling. Knowing early on that someone is susceptible to addiction might prevent the kind of dramatic outcomes in which people later find themselves when they are struggling with addiction. Cohen-Boulakia had even heard stories of addicts committing suicide. 

She said schools can have stronger prevention programs and hopes even kids will watch the film and begin to think about the issue.

“I hope people will be able to look in and ask themselves if they are prone to be dependent or not,” she said. “I hope people will talk more about it.”

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor of MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post How Canadian Filmmakers Combined a Film + Game to Combat Gambling Addiction appeared first on MediaShift.

Featured Training

How to Get Better Engagement Metrics
Engagement is so much more than Facebook reach. For publishers who want to cultivate a direct relationship with readers, it’s the top of the customer funnel. And how you define and measure engagement in your newsroom matters directly to whether you’ll be leading the industry or lagging behind. This live online panel will include a discussion with publishers who are at the forefront of using engagement metrics to build a direct relationship with readers, improve the quality of their journalism and drive revenue for their businesses. This free online panel is sponsored by Content Insights.
Date and time: April 18, 10 am PT / 1 pm ET
Panelists: Jason Alcorn, MediaShift; Hannah Wise, Dallas Morning News; Alexandra Smith, WhereBy.Us
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: Free

March 2018

Podcasting: Telling Stories in Sound
We have a new infatuation with audio podcasts and rightly so. Streaming audio has become easier to access, is readily available on mobile devices, and is now more personalized than ever before. This presents a huge opportunity for publishers, marketers, journalists, and communication professionals to connect with audiences via this “new” medium.
Date and time: March 26-27, 2018
Instructor: Laura Klivans and Lacy Jane Roberts
Producer: UC Berkeley Advanced Media Institute
Place: Berkeley, Calif.
Price: $865

New Video Storytelling
Video storytelling is a quick paced skill based workshop that will have you producing high quality,  professional  videos.  The best videos will always be the ones that that grab your attention, make you think, make you laugh, or cry, or elicit an emotion – and make you want to watch till the end. Join us to learn best-in-class techniques for producing engaging videos for the web and on social media.
Date and time: March 26-29, 2018
Instructor: Chris Schodt, Madeleine Bair and Lacy Roberts
Producer: UC Berkeley Advanced Media Institute
Place: Berkeley, Calif.
Price: $2,100

APRIL 2018 & BEYOND

TV Assignment Editor Workshop
Poynter is offering training exclusively for TV assignment editors. Participants will learn how to find stories and sources online, how to use great new tools to get stories online and on social media faster and how to help others to “get” your vision for the stories you are pitching. Assignment editors also have to help newsrooms drill down to find the truth in stories. This course aims to strengthen participants’ critical thinking skills to help inoculate them from the noise and nonsense that is constantly coming at them. In this seminar, Poynter’s Al Tompkins will guide participants through weekly readings, activities and live group discussions.
Date and time: April 2 – 27, 2018
Instructor: Al Tompkins, Poynter
Producer: Poynter NewsU
Place: Online
Price: $349

APME’s NewsTrain Digital-Skills Workshops
For just $75, early-bird registrants get a full day or day-plus of digital training at APME’s NewsTrain workshops in Muncie, Indiana, and Phoenix. Skills taught include social reporting and branding, data-driven enterprise, mobile storytelling and newsgathering, smartphone video, open records, digital tools and data visualization. Attendees regularly rate NewsTrain’s training as 4.5, with 5 as highly useful and effective. Fifty general scholarships are offered for Muncie NewsTrain, and diversity scholarships and discounted hotel rooms are available for both. Some early registrants will receive free AP Stylebooks. Learn more and register for the Muncie, Indiana, and Phoenix NewsTrains.
Date and time: April 6-7 in Phoenix
Instructors include: Middle Tennessee State’s Val Hoeppner, Arizona State’s Sarah Cohen, USA Today’s Mark Nichols and USC’s Laura E. Davis
Producer: Associated Press Media Editors
Place: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix
Price: Early-bird rate of $75 through Feb. 24 for Muncie and through March 6 for Phoenix. Scholarships available. The Muncie scholarship deadline is Feb. 12.

Video Storytelling for the Web 
Learn to produce compelling original video content that will connect readers, clients or stakeholders to the news, projects and people that matter. In this class, which will include a lot of 1-1 instruction, you will pitch, storyboard, shoot and edit a short, interview-based video story. No experience needed, but lots of passion required.
Date and time: April 9, 16 23, 30 and May 7, 2018
Instructor: Erica Berenstein, New York Times
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Price: $599; $479 until Feb. 1

Social Media and Audience Engagement 
This 5-week course is designed for anyone in communications who is passionate about social media and wants to create new career opportunities for themselves. They will cover the principles behind serving audiences on social media, using social media for news gathering, Social media video, community building, learning from analytics and creating strategies and campaigns.
Date and time: April 10, 17, 24 and May 1 and 8, 2018
Instructor: Jennifer Chang, Quartz
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Price: $599; $479 until Feb. 1

Adobe After Effects and Motion Graphics 
In this daylong workshop, you will learn the basics of Adobe After Effects, the leading software for digital visual effects, motion graphics and animation. Animation and motion graphics storytelling are in-demand skills and provides excellent opportunities to help news audiences understand complex stories in a dynamic and visual medium. Examples include animated infographics and data visualizations, kinetic typography, character animations, and visual animated explanations.
Date and time: April 14, 9:30-5 p.m.
Instructor: Graham Roberts, New York Times
Producer: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $549; $439 by Feb. 1

25 Incredibly Useful Tools for Your iPhone
Discover and experiment with digital tools and apps to increase your productivity, save your sanity and make the most of your iPhone.
Date and time: April 19, 6:30-9 p.m.
Instructor: Jeremy Caplan, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY J School
Producer: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Hooked on Junk News: Breaking Bad Habits and Rebuilding Trust in the Media
As a mediator among those who create, distribute and consume the news, the Newseum wants to help each group better understand the others. In this session, the Newseum’s Kristi Kenneth will focus on revealing what the organization has learned about the current media landscape through workshops with news consumers young and old around the globe. What issues cause the most confusion? Where does the public lay blame for problems like “fake” news? What skills do students and the general public need to develop, and what can journalists do to help bolster those skills?
Date and time: April 26, 2 p.m. ET
Instructor: Kristi Kenneth, Newseum
Producer: Poynter
Place: Online
Price: Free

Product Thinking for News Bootcamp
Product leads, product developers, product managers… those are job descriptions that have popped up in journalism and media job listings in the past couple of years. Media companies, both startups and legacy organizations, are hiring people who can design and execute products, such as mobile apps, that deliver news to people how, when and where they want it. The product approach is critical to the future of media and can lead to rewarding new career paths.
Date and time: April 28 – April 29, 2018
Instructor: Hong Qu, CUNY
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $479

Sports Journalism in the Digital Age
Data, social media and technology have fundamentally changed the way we report on the world of sports. More than ever, fans are able to communicate with their favorite athletes directly and able to publish about sports themselves. Sports journalists must find their place in this fast-paced ecosystem.
Date and time: May 2, 2018, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Luis Miguel Echegaray, Sports Illustrated
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Magazine Fact-Checking
Fact-checking is vital to journalism. This is especially true now that we’re dealing with so-called “fake news” and “alternative facts.” In this two-and-a-half-hour workshop, Brooke Borel, journalist and author of The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, will walk you through the what why and how of fact-checking. You’ll learn how to vet sources of all types and how to fact-check quotes, photographs, headlines, and more. We’ll also cover how to navigate relationships with writers, reporters, editors, and sources.
Date and time: May 9, 2018, 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Instructor: Brooke Borel
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $25

Drone Journalism Flight School
This all-day, hands-on workshop teaches the basics of drones journalism and videography. In the morning, instructor Travis Fox will go over the ins and outs of drones and their applications for journalism, the legal and ethical limitations for flying drones and how to apply for a Federal Aviation Administration’s Part 107 drone pilot’s certificate. In the afternoon, the class will head to Brooklyn’s Calvert Vaux Park to fly a DJI Inspire 1 drone and capture aerial video footage of the city. Each participant will have a limited time to fly the drone in the park. The flight portion of the class is weather and FAA permitting.
Date and time: May 19, 2018, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Instructor: Travis Fox
Producer: CUNY J+
Place: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, New York City
Price: $250

Data Visualization for Storytellers
A deluge of data is being made available for public use, but complex raw data sets can be difficult to understand and interpret. Having the tools and techniques to present illustrated data to your audience with aesthetic form and functionality are critical for conveying ideas effectively.
Date and time: June 28-29, 2018
Instructor: Peter Aldhous, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute’s Data Visualization Instructor
Producer: UC Berkeley Advanced Media Institute
Place: Berkeley, Calif.
Price: $895

COURSES ON DEMAND

How to Get Better Newsletter Metrics
Newsletters are a direct line to your audience. In a pivot-to-reader world, there’s arguably no product more valuable for digital publishers. Not surprisingly, newsletters have been one of the most exciting media segments to watch, and in 2018 we can expect even more innovation. This live online panel will include a discussion with publishers who are at the forefront of using newsletter metrics to increase engagement, develop new products, and drive revenue for their businesses.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: Free

How to Verify Photos and Videos
Learn how to verify photos and videos taken from social networks, especially in the context of breaking news. With “fake news” such a hot topic, how can you quickly and effectively verify materials that may be, well, fake? Most fake photos and videos can be checked quite quickly, allowing journalists and researchers to stop the spread of so-called “fake news” before it gets onto your Facebook feed. This course will help you develop an eye for fake photos and video, allowing you to establish the originality and veracity of the content.  These skills are especially useful in a breaking news situation, in which verifying a photo or video will not just tell you if it’s real, but also additional information that can provide additional information for further reporting.
Instructor: Aric Toler, Bellingcat analyst
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

5 Tech Tools to Improve Your Reporting
Whether you’re an investigative journalist or a daily beat reporter, free and low-cost technical tools and apps can help you improve and streamline your reporting. We’ll introduce you to tech tools and platforms that will help you obtain and manipulate data. You’ll learn how to scrape social accounts, without knowing any code. And you’ll discover how to use features that are built into services you already use in more powerful ways. Plus, we’ll look at some popular (free!) project management software and applications to help you collaborate with colleagues and manage reporting projects.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Report Responsibly on Cannabis
The cannabis beat intersects with science, medicine, business, regulation, technology, agriculture, law, criminal justice and individual liberties. At a time when coverage of these issues is shaping public policy, journalists sometimes get it right — and sometimes get it wrong. The consequences are wide-ranging, from misinformed voters to poorly crafted laws gone unchecked. Editors increasingly realize the value of covering the growing billion-dollar cannabis industry. And more journalists are on the cannabis beat than any other time, with legal cannabis in eight states and medical cannabis in more than half the country. This guide to covering cannabis aims to establish a shared language and common journalistic standards to help the quality of coverage keep up with the quantity.
Producer: Poynter
Place: Online
Price: $30

User Experience Testing 101
The rapid pace of technological change drives not only more innovative approaches to storytelling but also new behaviors among story consumers. Understanding how audiences experience media platforms and the stories they deliver is one key to retaining and growing them in a shifting media landscape. Applied in a wide-range of professions toward goals as diverse as the design of new digital products and improving hospital patient outcomes, user experience testing is an approach to understanding what audiences do and why they do it in order to adapt to their needs and leverage their behaviors.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Verify Photos and Videos
Most fake photos and videos can be checked quite quickly, allowing journalists and researchers to stop the spread of so-called “fake news” before it gets onto your Facebook feed. This course will help you develop an eye for fake photos and video, allowing you to establish the originality and veracity of the content. These skills are especially useful in a breaking news situation, in which verifying a photo or video will not just tell you if it’s real, but also can provide additional information for further reporting.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Making Sense of Local Metrics
What metrics matter most to local publishers today? Long gone are the days of tracking pageviews to measure the success of your news site, when the loyalty and quality of your audience matters much more than its raw size. Today publishers have more ways than ever to use Google Analytics and other tools to measure traffic and engagement, and even with a small team (or just yourself!) you can take advantage of this to build a more sustainable business.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Motion Graphics for Social Media
You’ve seen moving ads on your social media feed. Creating your own well designed animations including text, shape, photos and video is easier to achieve than it appears. Find a way to spice up the campaign for your business, film, nonprofit, or event.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom
Teachers can easily get into a rut, teaching their students the same way they’ve been doing for years. But this can be boring to students who are “digital natives.” This course will show you simple ways to break out of the traditional lecture-and-paper model, no matter the discipline, and instead teach lessons by listening to podcasts and having students create their own shows using free online tools.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Solve Legal Issues on Social Media
Gain an understanding of your rights and responsibilities when it comes to copyright, fair use and defamation on social media. Everyone’s a publisher now. Whether your company has a whole social media team or one person with a smart phone, you have to stay within your own lane on the information highway. It’s crucial to understand the dos and don’ts of copyright and libel law before posting. Learn how you can say everything you want and need to say without being exposed to legal risks.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

Use Google Apps to Workflow Like a Pro
Learn how to measure impact in journalism and why it’s becoming a valuable and necessary skill in today’s newsrooms. Set yourself apart by knowing not only how to do work that drives real-world change, but also how to make sure that change gets noticed. Learn how to tell the story of your reporting just as effectively as you tell others’ stories.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

DigitalEd Panel: How to Get Better Video Metrics
Are you putting more resources into video? As publishers increase the time they spend producing content for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other video platforms, they need better insights into what works and what doesn’t. This online panel will include a discussion by top publishers who are at the forefront of using video metrics to drive better engagement with their audience. We’ll discuss the reliability of video metrics and how to go beyond basic view counts to metrics such as over- and underperformance, recirculation and benchmarking. We’ll also hear tricks that leading publishers use to extract the most value out of the analytics tools they use in their own organizations.
Producer: MediaShift, sponsored by Parse.ly
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: Free

How to Measure Impact in Journalism
Learn how to measure impact in journalism and why it’s becoming a valuable and necessary skill in today’s newsrooms. Set yourself apart by knowing not only how to do work that drives real-world change, but also how to make sure that change gets noticed. Learn how to tell the story of your reporting just as effectively as you tell others’ stories.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online at BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Use Instagram as a Reporting Tool
With more than 600 million people on Instagram, this popular photo-sharing platform has become a powerful tool for journalists around the world. My Instagram followers tagged along with me as I reported stories for PRI’s The World and the BBC from mountain villages in Nepal, truck yards in Pakistan, the multi-cultural neighborhoods of South Africa, and more. In this course, you’ll learn the principles of using Instagram to report and photograph stories in the field. Whether you’re covering a local protest or trekking on a glacier with scientists, Instagram can help you generate interest in your story before your final report airs or goes to press.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Snapchat for Journalists and Storytellers
Snapchat has become a legitimate distribution outlet for the media, including by CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Vox, Mashable, BuzzFeed and many more. This training will explain why Snapchat is here to stay — and how journalists and storytellers can use it to strengthen their audience engagement.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Get the Most Out of Content Analytics
Do you want to get the most out of your analytics? Not sure where to start? A majority of digital media professionals don’t even have a common definition of audience engagement within their organization. This training will give you an overview of ways to get the most out of your analytics—starting with the best ways to define audience engagement. There’s also a chance for one-to-one feedback from the instructor.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Clean Up Your Audio in Video Production
Learn a few easy tips on how to clean up your audio using any microphones and noise reduction. Good video deserves good audio whether it is for TV or the web. This webinar will attempt to show broadcasters and reporters a few tips on gathering clean audio and a few tips on cleaning up audio that may have background “hiss” or “hum.” It’s hard to hear these with the human ear but a microphone picks up all, so don’t let a bad mic or bad mic placement ruin an otherwise great video production. This webinar is designed for anyone from the novice to the professional filmmaker and video creator.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

How to Launch a Killer Newsletter
Newsletter expert Jacqueline Boltik, who helped develop projects such as Ann Friedman’s Weekly and the LA Times’ newsletters and journalism professor Daniela Gerson, who recently created Migratory Notes, break down what you need to know to make your newsletter take off. Newsletters are the most direct way to build an audience, and are expanding. The Skimm, the Post Most, Lenny Letter, LA Times’ Essential Californian, #awesomewomen are just a few examples of the varied forms in which they are developing.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Facebook Live for Journalists
In the changing world of social media, Facebook Live is the new big thing. Facebook’s own algorithm favors this live element, drawing more viewers and followers to your page. But, how can journalists use it effectively to get past the “gimmick” idea and make it something useful for viewers and for journalists? We’ll explore some of the best practices to maximize use and effectiveness of Facebook live for journalists and media organizations alike.
Producer: MediaShift
Place: Online with BigMarker
Price: $19

Building Trust on Facebook
How can journalists stand out in a minefield of misinformation? See what 14 newsrooms learned when they used their social platforms to experiment with trust-building strategies. We’ll show you what they tried, what worked for different kinds of newsrooms and what totally fell flat.
Producer: Poynter News University
Place: Online
Price: Free

Getting Started With 360-Degree Video
Been seeing all those great 360° news stories but don’t know where to start? Let us help. News organizations across the world have adopted 360° technology in their reporting process. From breaking news to documentaries, newsrooms are bringing their readers and viewers closer to the story. Don’t let those pricey 360° video rigs intimidate you. Getting started with immersive storytelling is easier than you think. This training will walk you through the process of choosing the right equipment, from camera to rigging gear, planning your shoot and knowing if 360° video works for your story. You will learn how 360° videos are edited and how to pick the right platform to host your story.
Place: Online with BigMarker
Producer: MediaShift
Price: $19

Savvy Digital Journalism: Best Practices for Writing for the Web
Master the basics of digital journalism. This course is for both novice journalists who want to lay the groundwork as a digital writer, as well as seasoned writers who may be shifting from print to web.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $129

Skills in 60: Instagram Marketing Starter Kit
Get Instagram savvy and build your brand! In just one hour, this course will teach you how to effectively market your Instagram presence by crafting visually creative content, analyze key metrics to grow your audience and navigate the ever-changing social media landscape.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $49

Infographics and Visual Data
When combined with a compelling narrative, infographics are one of the fastest and most effective ways to help viewers make connections and grasp complex topics. This course will teach you how to conceptualize, design, and execute infographics using free and simple tools.
Place: Online
Producer: MediaBistro
Price: $129

How to Build and Teach an Online Course
New technology and tools are transforming the learning experience and creating new opportunities — and challenges — for educators at high schools, community colleges, and four-year universities. In this online training, you’ll learn how to organize a course and plan modules in a learning management system — whether you’re transitioning an existing course or starting one from scratch. You’ll also get a chance to try out tech tools to enhance the online educational experience, understand how to develop relationships with students in an online environment and discover new techniques for creating robust discussion among students in the class.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

Smarter Audience Analytics for Journalists
Do you get bored reading your own analytics report? Are you only reporting numbers. Analytics are a powerful tool, but only reporting pageviews and other statistics doesn’t change how a newsroom operates. In this training, we’ll look at how you can put analytics to work for you. What is your baseline? What measures do you use to determine a post’s success? What do analytics tell you about your audience? How can you turn that insight into actionable items by your staff? This session will help you utilize analytics to learn from your audience and find ways to build on successes.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: $19

How to Make News Bots Work For You
Robot journalism is one of the year’s hot topics as more media brands are experimenting with the automated delivery of news on mobile. Some bots are completely automated services that mimic a normal text conversation, but most involve some human intervention. In this online training, John Keefe, Senior Editor for Data News & Journalism Technology at WNYC, will explain how bots work and how journalists can use them to enhance their reporting and improve efficiency.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift and CUNYJ+
Place: Online
Price: $19

An Introduction to DocumentCloud
DocumentCloud is a catalog of primary source documents and a tool for annotating, organizing and publishing them on the web. Documents are contributed by journalists, researchers and archivists. We’re helping reporters get more out of documents and helping newsrooms make their online presence more engaging.
Place: online
Producer: Investigative Reporters & Editors
Price: free

Marketing with Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr
Market your brand using Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. This course will give you the knowledge of each of these platforms and enable you to identify the most appropriate ways to implement them to meet your business objectives.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $149

Skills in 60: Build an Editorial Calendar for Social Media Channels
This in-depth short course will show you how to develop integrated editorial content calendars and establish a robust production and publishing strategy across all your social channels. The video lessons will guide you on how to plan, create, distribute and analyze your editorial calendar for long term success.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $49

Twitter Marketing
Become a better, smarter marketer with Twitter to generate word-of-mouth, create leads, and grow your business. From hashtag strategy to deep data dives, influencer outreach to employing an effective posting schedule, you’ll master Twitter 140 characters at a time.
Place: online
Producer: Mediabistro
Price: $129

Whose Truth? Tools for Smart Science Journalism in the Digital Age
As journalists, we ignore science not only at our own peril, but at the peril of our readers, viewers and listeners. In this course, you’ll learn to how make sense of scientific data and tell stories in ways that connect with your audience. You’ll get techniques and tips to improve your interviewing and reporting skills. You’ll also learn how to lift the veil from front groups to launch investigations based on informed fact-gathering. When you’re done, you’ll have a toolkit of ways to identify and overcome the barriers journalists face when reporting on science-related topics.
Place: online
Producer: Poynter’s NewsU
Price: free

Social Media Master Class Part I
MediaShift’s Social Media Editor Julie Keck will lead you through using some of the most powerful publishing tools any media professional can use. You can learn how to optimize your feeds, post the right amount each day, and help promote your content or projects better. You can establish yourself as an authority using the right mix of social media platforms and skills. And most of all, it’s fun. Don’t be intimidated or overwhelmed by social media – you can do it!
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

Social Media Master Class Part II
You’ve established yourself on social media, but you want to grow your audience. How do you get people talking about your content without seeming too self-promoting? Learn to harness the power of #hashtags, run a popular live Twitter chat, find out what’s trending today and how to jump in at the right moment with the right content.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

DigitalEd: Smartphone Filmmaking 101
Whether you’re shooting coverage for your high-concept documentary, making a low-budget music video for your band, or shooting pick-ups for your corporate online PSA, there are a multitude ways to use your phone as a legitimate route for production. This training will illustrate the use of the iPhone as a low-budget professional production camera. We’ll include short practical tips on shooting techniques, emerging technology, apps and software alongside of traditional tips and tricks that can be added to a smartphone in order to make it a more robust production camera.
Place: online
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Price: $19

When a Staff Isn’t a Staff: Managing Freelancers
In today’s freelance economy, more and more workers are seeing the benefits of working as a freelancer or contractor. But what does that mean for the businesses that employ them? With a lean staff, many publications rely on freelance contributors, so it’s to everybody’s benefit to make that relationship a good one. Good freelancer relationships don’t just fall out of the sky. In this webinar, you’ll learn what makes freelancers happy (it’s more than just money!), how to cultivate good freelance relationships, and best practices for managing a sprawling, remote staff. With successful freelancer management, you’ll enjoy loyal, capable contributors and a robust publication.
Place: online
Producer: Poynter’s NewsU
Price: $29.95

How to Design a Brand
Learn how to design your brand by setting yourself apart from other businesses in your industry, build your own unique brand identity, conceptualize your logo design and creative direction, and apply your branding to establish credibility and increase exposure.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $40

How to Crowdfund 10K
Learn how to raise $10,000 by designing a one-of-a-kind crowdfunding campaign. Learn how to set goals and better prepare yourself for a campaign launch. Once your campaign launches, you’ll be an expert on methods of raising the most money, and how to design a professional page.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $30

How to Livestream on YouTube
Have you ever wanted to broadcast — live — but weren’t exactly sure how to do it, or what tools to use? Learn the technical nuts and bolds of how to livestream anything on YouTube, and how to market your show so people will see it.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $25

How to Tell a Story to Build a Community
Do you need to build a following, but are not sure how to tell your story to grow your community? Learn how to tell a story that will help others relate to you and your mission to take action.
Place: online
Producer: CreatorUp
Price: $40

Verification: The Basics
When a violent protest, mass-scale accident, or natural hazard unfolds, information tends to get jumbled, causing fear and confusion. With the growing use of technology, we have witnessed innumerable false and fake stories being shared on social networks, including photoshopped images, or reuploaded diced videos from unrelated events in the past. With increasing frequency, journalists are required to master the skills and expertise to handle the information that circulates on the Internet and elsewhere. Complementing our recently launched resource, the Verification Handbook, this course will provide the basic knowledge and techniques of verification in the digital age.
Place: online
Producer: Learno
Price: free

Your Photojournalism Survival Kit with Ron Haviv
Ron Haviv brings two decades of experience in building a photojournalism career on carefully laid groundwork. In this course, you’ll learn how to identify a captivating story and organize a plan for shooting it; how to create a budget and a pitch letter; and how to plan for any eventuality during the shoot, and cope with setbacks when they strike.
Place: online
Producer: Ron Haviv, Emmy-nominated photojournalist
Price: $79

Design Thinking: Story Design and Testing
Design thinking is a people-centered approach to problem solving that encourages collaborative brainstorming and diverse ideation through systematic strategies and processes. Used in a variety of fields, from product design to web development, design thinking serves as a powerful model for flexible and dynamic critical thinking that puts the audience/user at the center of idea generation. In this session, Dr. Palilonis will share a number of design thinking strategies and explain how they can be used by communication and media professionals to inspire innovative, engaging approaches to storytelling. Dr. Palilonis will also share how she has used design thinking in a number of diverse projects, from working with USA Volleyball to promote the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball nationwide, to developing a digital literacy curriculum for K-3 students.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online at Bigmarker
Price: $19

How to Become a Mobile Ninja in the Field
We’re past the “Oh look! You can do journalism with a smartphone!” phase of mobile journalism. We know that using mobile devices gives us mobility, a production office in the field and a way to generate content quickly from the scene. Unfortunately, there are increasing demands for on-the-scene content to feed the social media machine. But every piece of content tweeted is time lost reporting. This training will show you how to use various mobile tools while reporting to quickly generate interesting direct-to-social content – without taking away reporting time. Each of the tools and techniques featured requires less than 90 seconds to create content that goes up to social media and lets you get back to reporting.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online
Price: $19

Facebook Live for Journalists
In the changing world of social media, Facebook Live is the new big thing. Facebook’s own algorithm favors this live element, drawing more viewers and followers to your page. But, how can journalists use it effectively to get past the “gimmick” idea and make it something useful for viewers and for journalists? We’ll explore some of the best practices to maximize use and effectiveness of Facebook live for journalists and media organizations alike.
Producer: DigitalEd at MediaShift
Place: Online at Bigmarker
Price: $19

Transmedia Storytelling in Journalism
The mediascape of the 21st century is both a wicked problem and an unlimited opportunity for journalists. At the same time that powerful new storytelling tools have emerged our once-captive audiences have scattered into a dispersed mediascape. We can tell compelling stories like never before. But how do we get those stories in front of the publics that need them? A transmedia story unfolds in multiple media forms and across many media channels in an expansive rather than redundant way. This training will examine how Hollywood, Madison Avenue and journalism organizations like National Geographic and The Marshall Project use it to tell better and more complex stories and to reach audiences on the media they already use.
Producer: DigitalEd
Place: Online
Price: $19

More course listings are available at MediaShift’s DigitalEd, Poynter’s NewsU, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, Columbia Journalism School’s Continuing Education listings, Mediabistro and CreatorUp.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective and a social media consultant. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Upcoming Trainings and Courses: March 27 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.

APRIL 2018

Reader Revenue: Building a Business with Your Audience
April 6, 2018
Consumer revenue is a hot topic for news organizations around the world, as more and more newsrooms ask their readers and viewers directly to support their work. But setting up a clear and actionable strategy for how you can build reader revenue into your business model isn’t easy — and there are many different options to consider. Join Montclair State University on April 6 for a day-long workshop on this topic. “Reader Revenue: How news organizations can build a business with their audience” will dive into topics including membership, subscriptions, paywalls and more.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Region III Conference
April 6-8, 2018
Atlanta, Ga.
The conference is set in the historic city of Atlanta, GA and coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of one of the greatest champions of truth Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Attendees will examine his life, legacy and the struggles that open the door for so many. Join NABJ as they work within this noteworthy city in the civil rights movement to understand the gains and losses in the decades following the passing of an icon.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 5 Conference: Chicago
April 6 – 7, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here. 

National Association of Broadcasters Show
April 7-12, 2018
NAB Show is where ground-breaking technology is unveiled, innovative solutions are displayed and game-changing trends are exposed. Explore aisle after aisle of awesome tech, cool gear, smart software, capable cloud solutions and limitless ideas and inspiration.
More information and registration here.

Broadcasters Education Assocation 2018
April 7-10, 2018
Today’s media is being challenged by a changing workforce and audience. The audience is searching for and watching media that reflects them and their experience. On the other side of the camera, the industry has been slow to include the wide variety of voices and skilled professionals who can allow the industry to better move forward to serve the changing audience.  This is the challenge of inclusive media – leveraging the multiple backgrounds, perspectives and ideas of storytellers to create engaging media for a diverse audience.
More information and registration here.

Digital Media Europe 2018
April 10-11, 2018
Copenhagen, Denmark
The only truly European conference focused on digital revenue is coming back to Copenhagen. And for good reason: Denmark is officially the most digital country among the 28 EU member states.
More information and registration here.

PacificVis 2018
April 10-13, 2018
Kobe, Japan
The 11th IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium (PacificVis 2018) will be held in Kobe, Japan during April 10 to 13, 2018. Visualization has become an increasingly important research area due to its wide range of applications in many disciplines. PacificVis is an IEEE sponsored international visualization symposium held in the Asia-Pacific region, with the objective to foster greater exchange between visualization researchers and practitioners, and to draw more researchers in the Asia-Pacific region to enter this rapidly growing area of research.
More information and registration here.

International Journalism Festival
April 11-15, 2018
The festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It’s an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees, all venues are situated in the stunning setting of the historic town centre of Perugia.
More information and registration here.

National JEA/NSPA Journalism Conventions
April 12-15, 2018
San Francisco, Calif.
The National High School Journalism Convention is a semiannual gathering of high school journalists and advisers sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and its partner, the National Scholastic Press Association. The associations partner to prepare hundreds of practical and professional learning sessions, from high-profile keynotes to specific, problem-solving breakouts, hands-on workshops and discussion groups. Other convention activities include an exhibit hall with vendors who sell to student media, JEA’s on-site Write-off contests, NSPA’s Best of Show contest, receptions, awards convocations, critiques, career round tables and evening entertainment.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Region I Conference
April 13-14, 2018
New York City
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will host its 2018 Region 1 Conference April 13 and 14, 2018 in New York City. The Global Diversity Summit is bringing together hundreds of journalists, communication professionals and students from across the U.S. Northeast to attend the two-day conference.
More information and registration here.

International Symposium on Online Journalism
April 13-14, 2018
Austin, TX
Since 1999, journalists, media executives and scholars from around the world have had an annual meeting in Austin, Texas to discuss the impact of the digital revolution on  journalism. The International Symposium on Online Journalism is a program of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, a unique conference that bridges the gap between academia and the news industry.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 2 Conference: Richmond, Va.
April 13 – 14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 6 Conference: Bloomington, Minn.
April 13-14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 7 Conference: Ames, Iowa
April 13-14, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

2018 Portland Watchdog Workshop
April 14, 2018
IRE will offer several of its core sessions, designed to improve your ability to find information on the Web quickly, and point you to key documents and data that will help you add depth to your daily work and produce quick-hit enterprise stories. In addition, this workshop will give you tips on bulletproofing stories, digging deeper on the Web with social media, search engines and much more.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 7 Conference: Ames, Iowa
April 20 – 22, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Region 9 Conference: Denver, Colo.
April 20 – 22, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

2018 Washington D.C. Watchdog Workshop
April 21, 2018
IRE will offer several of its core sessions, designed to improve your ability to find information on the Web quickly, and point you to key documents and data that will help you add depth to your daily work and produce quick-hit enterprise stories. In addition, this workshop will give you tips on bulletproofing stories, digging deeper on the Web with social media, search engines and much more.
More information and registration here.

For the Love of Journalism 2018
April 21-22, 2018
Celebrate the love of journalism and learn new skills for two days in the city where Freedom of the Press got its start. The Society of Professional Journalists Regional Spring Conference will take place April 21 and 22 at Temple University in Philadelphia. We’ll have sessions on Facebook and Google tools, building your online brand, covering sex harassment and the marijuana business and a conversation on the future of journalism in Philadelphia.
More information and registration here.

SPJ Ethics Week
April 23 – 27, 2018
SPJ’s Code of Ethics states that ethical journalism is truthful, compassionate, independent and transparent. We need ethical journalism — and journalists who work each day with the profession’s highest standards in mind — now more than ever. The goal of Ethics Week is to not only help journalists explain how they ethically cover stories, but to share with the public information about what journalists do, how to identify ethical journalism, where to find it and how to support it.
More information and registration here.

Lenfest Learning Seminar
April 24-25, 2018 (Application deadline March 23.)
This is a one-day un-conference with only 30 specialists whose main job revolves around newsletters, keeping discussions focused and highly practical. Starting with dinner the night before, participants will brainstorm and prepare for sessions the next day. Space is limited, so please apply as soon as possible before the March 23rd deadline.
More information and application here.

SPJ Region 11 Conference: Universal City, Calif.
April 27 – 28, 2018
SPJ’s Regional Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on topics ranging from improving writing to leveraging technology in today’s new media climate. Networking opportunities at the conferences allow participants to build relationships that can lead to the sharing of the best practices in newsrooms. Enhance yourself and your journalism career by attending a Regional Conference in your area.
More information and registration here.

MAY 2018 AND BEYOND

Collaborative Journalism Summit
May 10-11, 2018
Join other journalists, media executives, technologists and entrepreneurs from around the world for the 2018 Collaborative Journalism Summit. This year’s conference builds on the 2017 summit, which focused on case studies of successful collaborative projects and featured keynote speakers representing The Panama Papers, Google News Lab and Electionland.
More information and registration here.

Connecting Digital Media to Your Revenue Growth
June 4-5, 2018
Ops is the large-and-in-charge annual conference with over 700 digital strategists and media leaders coming together in NYC. The epicenter of the advertising industry lies in good operations. The Ops agenda is designed to connect the dots between ad operations and the many digital media job roles that touch it – revenue, marketing, sales, tech, and management.
More information and registration here.

2018 IRE Conference
June 14-17, 2018
Participants can reboot their skills, recharge their watchdog batteries and reconnect with the world’s largest network of investigative journalists during this year’s gathering in Orlando. They can from more than 150 panels, hands-on classes and special presentations, and learn how to improve reporting and storytelling across all platforms.
More information and registration here.

NAHJ and NAJA Convention 2018
July 18-21, 2018
Miami, Fla.
NAHJ and NAJA are headed to Miami this year. The International Training Conference and Career Fair brings together the top trainers to create a curriculum and hands on education to help advance careers and develop leaders in the newsroom.
More information and registration here.

NABJ Convention 2018
Aug. 1 – 5, 2018
Detroit, Mich.
The annual convention hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists will be held in Detroit this year. More information is to come.
More information and registration here.

2018 August CAR Boot Camp
Aug. 5, 2018
Columbia, Mo.
Learn how to acquire electronic information, use spreadsheets and databases to analyze the information and translate that information into high-impact stories. In addition, NICAR provides follow-up help when participants return to their news organizations.
More information and registration here.

AAJA Convention 2018
Aug. 8-11, 2018
Houston, TX
AAJA’s programming focuses on improving core skills and making sure our members return to their newsrooms equipped with the latest tools and trends. Their sessions and workshops have included topics ranging from the importance of AAPI experiences and identity, to fake news, VR, and navigating difficult conversations in the newsroom around race.
More information here.

2018 August Mapping Boot Camp
Aug. 10, 2018
Columbia, Mo.
IRE and NICAR conducts this hands-on training using the latest version of QGIS, a free and open-source mapping program. We will look at noteworthy stories that have used mapping and show you how to uncover stories using census and other data. The sessions will include address geocoding, thematic mapping, overlaying and spatial analysis.
More information and registration here.

Publisher Forum Huntington Beach
Aug. 12-15, 2018
Portland, Ore.
Publisher Forum conferences offer community, exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.
More information and registration here.

NLGJA Convention 2018
Sept. 6-9, 2018
Join more than 350 journalists, news executives, communications professionals and educators at the National Convention at the Hard Rock Hotel Palm Springs, September 6-9, 2018.
More information and registration here.

ONA18
Sept. 13-15, 2018
Record-breaking numbers of journalists travel to ONA’s conference each year to learn about new tools, techniques and technologies, to discuss advancements and challenges in the industry, take advantage of the rare opportunity to network face-to-face, and share best practices with peers from all over the map.
More information and registration here.

Excellence in Journalism 2018
Sept. 27-29, 2018
Baltimore, Md.
This year the Excellence in Journalism conference will be hosted by SPJ and RTDNA in Baltimore, Md.
More information and registration here.

Journalism Summit 2018
Sept. 28-30, 2018
Boston, Mass.
Organized by the Fourth Estate, Emerson College and Youth Journalism International, this weekend event in Boston will connect and engage journalism’s stakeholders through seminars, summits, workshops and networking events.
More information and registration here.

Society of Professional Journalists 2018
October 3-7, 2018
Flint, Mich.
Flint, Mich., site of the most serious drinking water crisis in modern U.S. history, will draw hundreds of working reporters from across North America when the University of Michigan-Flint hosts the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in 2018.
More information and registration here.

Digital Media North America 2018
October 19-20, 2018
New York City
This one and-a-half day event will provide a unique opportunity for North American news media executives to hear and discuss digital revenue strategy from the world’s most advanced media companies.
More information and registration here.

Publisher Forum Huntington Beach
Nov. 4-7, 2018
Cedar Creek, TX
Publisher Forum conferences offer community, exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.
More information and registration here.

Bianca Fortis is the associate editor at MediaShift, an independent journalist and social media consultant. She is a founding member of the Transborder Media storytelling collective. Follow her on Twitter @biancafortis.

The post Upcoming Events in Digital Media: March 26 Edition appeared first on MediaShift.