Michelle Lang Fellowship now accepting applications

The Michelle Lang Fellowship is now accepting applications.

The Fellowship offers a young reporter looking to launch his or her journalism career the opportunity to work in two different major newsrooms, on a variety of different assignments. The Fellow will work for approximately six months each at both The Calgary Herald and Postmedia News in Ottawa.

Best of all?  It’s paid. The successful candidate will receive a salary equivalent to that of a starting reporter – so, about $40,000.

A journalism degree is not required, but the skills that make for a good journalist are. A full list of criteria can be found here.

As for how to apply: A cover letter, resume, clippings and references are required. Details on the application can be found here.

Postmedia News made headlines last week when they announced that they would be stepping out of the wire service business and cutting nearly half of its staff at the Ottawa bureau. Christina Spencer, managing editor of Postmedia News, confirmed to me last week that the Fellowship is unaffected by these layoffs and will proceed precisely how it did last year.

Michelle Lang was a Herald reporter who was killed in 2009 when the armoured vehicle she was riding in was struck by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The Fellowship was created in her memory to “inspire young writers to strive for the same excellence pursued” by Lang, including highlighting ordinary Canadians in extraordinary circumstances.