Scripps Howard Foundation Establishes Roy W. Howard Fellowships

Furthering its investment in aspiring investigative journalists, the Scripps Howard Foundation has pledged up to $1.5 million to establish a fellowship program in honor of legendary journalist and news executive Roy W. Howard.

The Roy W. Howard Fellowship program will be open exclusively to journalists who have completed studies at the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland.

The Howard Centers, established in 2018 with a $6 million commitment from the Scripps Howard Foundation, are graduate programs administered by the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The Roy W. Howard Fellowships are an extension of the f oundation’s commitment to the success of the Howard Centers and the education and professional development of emerging investigative journalists.

“Roy W. Howard was an extraordinary journalist and news executive of The E.W. Scripps Co. who made an indelible mark, not just on the profession he influenced, but on the course of world affairs,” said Liz Carter, chief executive officer and president of the Scripps Howard Foundation. “He believed passionately in the important role journalists fulfill in a free society, so it’s fitting that the Howard Centers, and now the Roy Howard Fellowships, bear his name and further the cause to which he dedicated a lifetime.”

The fellowships will be made available to up to 30 journalists during a three-year period beginning January 2021. The program will support a maximum of 10 fellows a year, and each will be assigned to work for 12 months at a nonprofit news organization selected by the Howard Centers.

“This program is designed to offer fellowship opportunities for select graduates from the Howard Centers to further enhance their skills as investigative journalists working for professional news organizations,” Carter said. “The objective is to provide post-graduate journalists with a hands-on, real-world environment to develop their communication, collaboration, networking and leadership skills.”

The fellowships will provide a portion of each fellow’s salary, with the remainder paid by the non-profit news organization hosting the fellow, a relocation stipend and funding for training. Fellowships will be awarded and administered in two annual cycles – January through December and June through May.

“The Roy Howard Fellowships will not only provide a unique opportunity for a new generation of investigative journalists by placing them inside outstanding professional newsrooms, it will boost the ability of nonprofit newsrooms of all types to dig into stories that matter to America’s communities,” said Lucy Dalglish, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

“This program couldn’t come at a better time,” said Kristin Gilger, interim dean at the Cronkite School. “The fellowship program will immediately put talented, eager and well-trained reporters in newsrooms precisely at a time when investigative reporting is needed more than ever.”

The first class of fellows will be chosen in November and placed with participating news organizations such as InsideClimate News, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, NPR and PBS NewsHour in January 2021.

As the philanthropic organization of The E.W. Scripps Co., the foundation partners with the company and the Scripps and Howard families to create a better-informed world by advancing journalism and journalism education. The creation of the Roy W. Howard Fellowships is the latest addition to these ongoing journalism development initiatives, which includes the recently announced award of $600,000 toward a program to advance diversity in journalism, the Scripps Howard Fellowship program and the establishment of the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism.