Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism provide training, resources, and support for journalists during a year of mental health reporting. New climate change fellowship will be based outside the United States.
ATLANTA (June 6, 2024) — Applications are being accepted for a new fellowship within the 2024-2025 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, The Carter Center announced Thursday. This fellow will report on the intersection of mental health and climate change among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations outside the United States.
Project proposals will be accepted through June 28, 2024. Projects can be in any format — digital, audio, video, print — and applicants are encouraged to think creatively within the topic area. Preference will be given to proposals that also focus on youth and young adults. Qualified applicants must be journalists with at least three years of reporting experience.
The online application for this special fellowship is available here. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on June 28. The awardee will be announced Aug. 1 on the Center's website and social media channels.
“This fellowship program is a fantastic and far-reaching legacy for its founder, former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away in November 2023. We’ve heard from so many alumni that they changed their career and elevated mental health reporting for them, their media outlets, and even their country,” said Carter Center Mental Health Program Director Eve Byrd. “More than ever, we need to improve the quality and reach of mental health reporting that serves to provide hope and spotlight solutions to address the mental health crisis faced across all populations.”
Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The selected fellow will join a roster of more than 275 Rosalynn Carter fellows chosen over the past 28 years. The yearlong, nonresidential fellowships equip journalists in every medium with the resources to produce compelling and solutions-based projects on mental health and substance use issues. Fellows develop skills to effectively report on difficult but important topics across evolving and emerging platforms.
U.S. fellows are awarded a $10,000 stipend and receive intensive training on mental health reporting. They engage in networking opportunities with advisors and other fellows.
Fellows pursue a range of innovative journalism projects that tackle some of society’s biggest mental health and substance abuse challenges and seek to drive change in their communities while reducing stigma through factual storytelling.
Fellows are selected by a committee of current and former journalists, mental health experts, and the Fellowship Advisory Board, with an emphasis on diversity across ethnicity, geography, media, and the communities their projects will cover.
The general 2024-2025 U.S.-based fellowships will be announced on July 12, 2024. See other important dates and deadlines here.
The fellowship year begins in September, when new and outgoing fellows meet to discuss their proposed and completed projects.
Shedding light on underreported issues and driving change
Rosalynn Carter fellows undertake timely projects that have a significant impact on their communities regarding mental health and substance use issues. Past projects have contributed to changes in services and public policies. Examples include an investigation into problems with psychiatric housing in hospitals that eventually led to a state Supreme Court ruling; reporting that inspired policymakers in a major American city to allocate millions of dollars to address homelessness; and a project that exposed the complex and devastating mental health and substance use challenges faced by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fellowship projects have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the highest award in American journalism. They also have earned Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, Signal Awards and awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, Public Radio News Directors Inc., the American Psychiatric Association, Mental Health America, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism are part of the Carter Center's Mental Health Program, which works around the world to improve access to mental health care and reduce stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses. A revised Journalism Resource Guide on Mental Health reporting is available so journalists can accurately cover stories that include mental health and substance use. Fellows’ reporting is curated on Instagram @rosalynncarterfellows and @CarterFellows on X (formerly Twitter).
For more details on how to apply, read here and review the frequently asked questions. For inquiries not covered in the FAQs, please email carterfellows@cartercenter.org.
Contact : Rennie Sloan, rennie.sloan@cartercenter.org.
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The Carter Center
Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
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