The Tyee launches two fellowships for journalists

February 20, 2006

Vancouver, BC — The Tyee (www.thetyee.ca) formally launched its two journalism fellowships today: the Investigative Fellowship Fund and the Solutions Fellowship Fund.

After a brief fundraising campaign, Tyee readers showed they hold a strong belief in the power of independent journalism. The proof? Despite asking for support over Christmas when wallets are thin, and during the noise of a federal election, fundraising targets were exceeded by over 20%.

Beginning today The Tyee is accepting applications from journalists wanting to dig deep into problems faced by British Columbians, or wanting to report on promising solutions to the challenges we share in this province. While the research and reporting must relate directly to BC, the subject matter is open, and may include education, the environment, human rights, cultural issues, economics, workplace rights and safety, poverty, ethics, business, politics, science, or health.

Fellowship applications, which are due by April 9th, will be reviewed by an independent advisory panel who will select the four strongest. Each journalist will receive $5000 to produce a series of at least three stories which will be published first on The Tyee and then made available to the public and other publications.

All funds will go directly to journalists. Look for their stories to begin being published in The Tyee in the summer.

These fellowships, unique in Canada, will be awarded annually. The Tyee intends to continue to grow the funds in order to increase their impact. The two funds are held at and managed by the Tides Canada Foundation, a national public foundation.

For more information, please visit:

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/02/19/FellowshipsLaunched/