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United States Fellows

The Knight Fellowships is currently revising its selection process to reflect a new emphasis on journalistic innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Details will be available in October 2008. Application deadlines will remain the same.

Sign up for the Knight Fellowships update mailing list if you'd like to be notified of updates, including when the new application and selection criteria are posted.

The U.S. application deadline is Feb. 1.
Winners will be notified in late April or early May.

Eligibility and Selection

We award 12 fellowships each year to U.S. journalists who have already done first-rate work and who have the potential of reaching the top ranks in their specialties.

Fellows receive a stipend of $60,000 plus supplements for housing, child care, health insurance and books. The program pays Stanford tuition for each Fellow.

Applicants must have at least seven years of full-time professional experience. There are no educational prerequisites. No college degree is required.

Applicants must be currently working full-time as journalists: employees of newspapers, wire services, television or radio news departments, Web sites, magazines covering news, commentary, or public affairs, and full-time freelancers. Eligible journalists include those who write or edit news, commentary, or editorials; critics and reviewers, photojournalists, editorial cartoonists and supervising editors, anchors, and producers.

Journalism business and management executives whose decisions affect editorial quality - for example, publishers, general managers, news directors and station managers - or who are likely to be in such positions are also eligible. Such applicants must be committed to improving editorial quality in their news organizations, and not merely in improving a particular business skill or specialty.

Professionals working in public information or public relations jobs, for trade and house newsletters or magazines, for government agencies, or as teachers, are not eligible.

Fellows must agree to spend the academic terms in residence at Stanford, to participate in the seminars and activities of the fellowship program, to do no professional work during their fellowship year, and to return to their news organization at the end of the fellowship.

Candidates write two essays: an intellectual autobiography, and a statement of how they propose to spend the fellowship year. Applicants must submit a letter from their employer endorsing their application and granting a leave of absence if chosen for a fellowship. Three letters of recommendation, including one from the applicant's immediate supervisor, are required as well as work samples.

Each application is read independently by three reviewers - the Program Director, the Deputy Director, and a third experienced journalist. From these, 25 to 30 semifinalists are chosen to be interviewed at Stanford. Final evaluations are done by the Program Committee, composed of senior Stanford faculty members and prominent journalists.