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Helping empower the next generation of environmental journalists at Nature’s frontline

Karst mountain in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Karst mountain in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

  • Mongabay is establishing a fellowship program for young and aspiring journalists from the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
  • The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program will provide opportunities for journalists from tropical countries to report on critical environmental issues, gaining valuable training, experience, and credibility that will help them advance their careers in journalism and communications.
  • We purposefully do not have any educational prerequisites to apply for the program. We believe that anyone has the potential to become a journalist and access to education should not be a barrier to opportunity.
  • It is our hope that the fellowship will empower the next generation of environmental journalists to tell stories from Nature’s frontline.

MENLO PARK, CA — With the impacts of environmental degradation becoming more acute around the globe, the world needs journalists reporting from Nature’s frontline to provide accurate and actionable information. This is especially the case across the tropics, which are disproportionately bearing the brunt of climate change, biodiversity loss, and threats against Indigenous peoples and local communities.

But it is a hard time to find a footing as an environmental journalist. Beyond the general challenges facing journalists everywhere due to sector shifts and shrinking press freedom, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for young and aspiring journalists to gain training and firsthand experience. Paid opportunities are few and far between.

To help address this gap, Mongabay is establishing a fellowship program for young and aspiring journalists from the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program will provide opportunities for journalists from tropical countries to report on critical environmental issues, gaining valuable training, experience, and credibility that will help them advance their careers in journalism and communications.

The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program will support up to 12 fellows per year – six at our global English bureau and six at our Spanish-language bureau, Mongabay-Latam. Each cohort will consist of three fellows per bureau.

Fellows will gain valuable experience working with a range of editors at our international news outlet, develop their environmental reporting skills, and create a portfolio of original publications which should help them advance their careers in journalism.

We purposefully do not have any educational prerequisites to apply for the program. We believe that anyone has the potential to become a journalist and access to education should not be a barrier to opportunity.

Today we formally opened the application process for the first cohort of fellows for the English and Latam bureaus. The fellowship will start October 1, 2022. More information on the program can be found at Mongabay.org.

It is our hope that the fellowship will empower the next generation of environmental journalists to tell stories from Nature’s frontline.

The Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship Program | Beca Y. EVA TAN de periodismo ambiental

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