RJI Professional Innovation Fellowships
The Reynolds Journalism Institute invites proposals from individuals and organizations who wish to build practical and innovative resources for community-centered news, journalists and the communities they serve.
Applications for the 2026 Fellowships will open Dec 1, 2025.
All fellowship projects are built, tested and launched within the span of the fellowship and must be free, accessible and open-source for journalists, newsrooms and the public to utilize.
Past fellows have built a slack based SEO tool, a bilingual guide to misinformation, a Quick-Start Guide to Freelancing and other amazing resources for journalists.
Whatever your idea, it will be built, tested and launched to be utilized by other news organizations, journalists and the people who depend on them by the end of your fellowship. You will publish regular articles, webinars and other public facing deliverables to share what you’re learning for other newsrooms and journalists who want to learn more about what you’re building.
The final deliverable of your fellowship will be a publicly available resource that journalists and newsrooms can utilize – whether it’s a guide, tool, platform, product or workshop
Upcoming RJI Fellowship Q&As
Types of RJI Professional Innovation Fellowships:
Institutional Fellowship: A RJI Fellow embedded at an organization to build out a specific resource, tool, program or product that addresses a current need, gap or challenge for that organization but is also applicable to other journalists and organizations in the industry.
This Fellowship is for individuals who want to work within an organization’s environment to collaborate across teams and benefit from the support and partnership of the organization. This fellow can be currently employed with the organization or engage in a mutually agreed upon partnership to work with the org for this fellowship project. The fellowship money can go to the organization or the individual to help cover the fellow’s project costs. Fellows will be required to build, test and gather feedback internally and externally on their tool, product or resource prior to launching it at the end of the 8 month fellowship. The final product, resource or tool will be free and accessible for all journalists and newsrooms to utilize at the end of the Fellowship.
- Remote, with a couple visits to RJI during the fellowship
- Fellowship begins June 29th, 2026
- $75,0000 stipend paid directly to organization or fellow based upon completion of phase deliverables
- Deadline to apply is February 6, 2026
Individual Fellowship: A RJI Fellow who wants to build a resource, tool, program or product that addresses a current need, gap or challenge in journalism. This Fellowship is for journalists, consultants, researchers or other individuals who may have a full time job or freelancing business, but want to pursue a vital innovative project outside of that work. The fellowship money will go to the individual to be used to help cover the fellow’s project costs. Fellows will be required to build, test and gather feedback internally and externally on their tool, product or resource prior to launching it at the end of the 8 month fellowship. The final product, resource or tool will be free and accessible for all journalists and newsrooms to utilize at the end of the Fellowship.
- Remote, with a couple visits to RJI during the fellowship
- Fellowship begins June 29th, 2026
- $75,0000 stipend is paid directly to individual based upon completion of phase deliverables
- Deadline to apply is February 6, 2026
Emerging Technology Fellowship: A RJI Fellow who wants to utilize emerging technology to build a resource, tool or product where the emerging technology is key to solving the problem or challenge within journalism.
This Fellow should build a solution which would not be possible without the emerging technology utilized. Fellows will be required to build, test and gather feedback internally and externally on their tool, product or resource prior to launching it at the end of the 8 month fellowship. The final product, resource or tool will be free and accessible for all journalists and newsrooms to utilize at the end of the Fellowship.
- Remote, with a couple visits to RJI during the fellowship
- Fellowship begins June 29th, 2026
- $100,000 stipend is paid directly to individual based upon completion of phase deliverables
- Deadline to apply is February 6, 2026
Fellowship Process & Timeline:
- First round applications close: Feb 6
- Second Round applications sent out through submittable: by Feb 20 (you will have two weeks to fill out this more in-depth second round application and submit it)
- Finalist interviews: April 6-17, 2026
If you have questions about or at any time during this process, contact Kat Duncan.
Apply here:
