Five students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) receive hands-on experience during the three-day Online News Association Conference as part of the HBCU Digital Media Fellowship. The students create multimedia packages, as well as participate in mentorship focused on emerging technologies, tools and approaches to reporting and distributing news online.
The 2019 HBCU fellows
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
About the fellowship
Supported annually since 2014 by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, each fellow will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the conference and a free one-year ONA membership. Over the three days, fellows will work closely with lead mentor Michael Grant, Creative Director, San Francisco Business Times and 2017-18 John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, and Michelle Johnson, Chair of the ONA Student Newsroom and Innovation Lab and Associate Professor of Practice, Multimedia Journalism at Boston University. They will produce multimedia packages for the conference and be immersed in intensive digital journalism training.
The fellowship is centered on a highly-engaged conference experience for students, with a focus on the evolving nature of online journalism. Fellows are embedded in the Student Newsroom and Innovation Lab, where students work with mentors to produce reporting using the latest in digital technology. Fellows also participate in group workshops led by industry leaders that range from learning about emerging media trends to hands-on training in current storytelling tools and techniques. Schedules are tailored to students’ particular career interests, and they have time to attend conference sessions and networking events, where they connect with professional digital journalism innovators.