The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is hosting a four-day reporting institute for reporters and editors worldwide who wish to deepen their knowledge of early childhood development and increase their capacity to report ethically and effectively on the youngest children and their caregivers. The reporting institute - part of the Dart Center’s ongoing Early Childhood Journalism Initiative - will be held March 8 -11, 2024 at Columbia Journalism School in New York City. The deadline for applications is October 25, 2023. 

This four-day global reporting institute will bring together journalists from around the world for panels, workshops, and skills-based training by leading researchers, clinicians, and child development experts and practitioners, as well as journalist-to-journalist conversations on how to translate these issues and themes into meaningful stories and salient, cross-cutting news coverage. The institute will offer opportunities for knowledge sharing, source development, and peer-to-peer learning and continue to grow a global network of journalists dedicated to reporting on young children and caregivers with insight, accuracy, sensitivity and depth. 

Supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation (The Netherlands), Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal (Brazil), and The Two Lilies Fund (United States), the initiative has provided over 200 journalists around the world with knowledge, skills and resources to incorporate emerging science and policy on early childhood development into their coverage. This is a selection of the work that ECJI has supported.

Previous ECJI speakers have included:

Nadine Burke Harris, MD, former Surgeon General of California and author of The Deepest Well

Flavio Cunha, PhD, Economist, Rice University

Stacy Drury MD, PhD, Neuroscientist, Tulane University     

Nat Kendall Taylor, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, The FrameWorks Institute

Charles Nelson III, PhD, Neuroscientist and Psychologist, Harvard Medical School              

Ann S. Masten, PhD, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota 

Katie A. McLaughlin, PhD, Executive Director, The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, University  of Oregon  

Kimberly Noble, MD, PhD, Neuroscientist, Teachers College, Columbia University 

Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, Director, Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University

Eligibility:

Reporters and editors working in print, digital, audio, photography, television and video with a minimum of three years’ professional experience are eligible to apply. Editor-reporter pairs will be considered, when applicable. Student journalists are not eligible.

The full program will be conducted in English. Strong spoken English proficiency is required. 

Roundtrip international or domestic travel, 3-4 nights of hotel lodging, ground transportation to/from NYC airports and most meals will be covered for 25 selected participants. Health insurance, travel insurance, visa fees, ground transportation in the home country will not be covered. 

Travel Visas:

If selected for the institute, the Dart Center will provide formal letters of acceptance to accompany visa applications. The Dart Center is not able to cover fees associated with applying for travel visas, or assist in obtaining a visa to travel to the U.S.

Applicants will be notified by November 30, 2023.
 

Application Requirements and Deadlines

To apply for the fellowship, you must create a free account on Submittable.

To submit a completed application, you will need:

• Resume / CV
• Professional Bio
• Letter of interest: Your letter should discuss your work as a journalist, your experiences reporting on children or caregivers, challenges you've encountered or particular events or experiences that have informed your outlook and/or professional trajectory, and what you hope to take away from the institute. (No more than 2 pages)
• Two recent and relevant work samples: 
  • Your work sample should have been published or broadcast within the three years.
  • You must have worked as a Reporter or Editor on the story or project.
  • If your work sample is in a language other than English, please submit it with an English transcript.
• Two letters of recommendation from professional references: You will be asked to provide an email address for each of your recommenders, and they will be contacted directly by Submittable to upload their recommendation for your application. The deadline for recommendations is November 1, 2023.

Applications will not be accepted by past recipients of the Dart Center’s Early Childhood Journalism Initiative or employees of Columbia Journalism School, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, or student journalists. 

Application deadline: October 25, 2023 at 5:00pm EST. Recommendation letters will be accepted through November 1, 2023.

The inaugural Dart Center Documentary Film Fellowship is an immersive, week-long fellowship designed for senior and mid-career filmmakers who wish to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and psychological injury, delve into documentary ethics and craft challenges, and enrich their professional engagement with violence, conflict and tragedy. 

The Dart Center Documentary Film Fellowship – supported by The Dart Foundation of Mason, Michigan – will take place February 11-17, 2024 in Grand Cayman.

The fellowship will bring 10-12 filmmakers together with leading experts on core issues of trauma science as well as innovators in documentary practice, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences and challenges in the profession. Seminars will focus on ethical documentary reporting and engagement of vulnerable people in all stages of production; narrative and craft challenges specific to documentary film; duty of care to subjects and sources; self-care and resilience; as well as organizational and peer support from pre-production through film distribution. 

The program will equip filmmakers with the knowledge and skills to approach victims and survivors with sensitivity and depth; understand the complexity of trauma survivors' experiences; tell more insightful, multi-dimensional and nuanced stories about those impacted by trauma; make more informed, ethical choices when covering traumatic events; and create self-care and peer support plans that span development through distribution, awards and streaming runs.

The fellowship covers round trip travel, six nights of lodging, meals and expenses directly related to participation, such as ground transportation on Grand Cayman. The program does not cover health insurance, visa costs, additional nights of lodging beyond the program’s duration or ground transportation in fellows’ home cities.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES

To apply for the fellowship, you must create a free account on Submittable.

To submit a completed application, you will need:

• Resume / CV
• Professional Bio
• Letter of interest: Your letter should discuss your work as a filmmaker, your experiences covering violence and trauma, challenges you've encountered or particular events or experiences that have informed your outlook and/or professional trajectory, and what you hope to take away from the fellowship. (No more than 2 pages)
• One recent and relevant documentary work sample: 
  • Your work sample should have been published or broadcast within the last five years, and be no longer than 15 minutes: it can be a standalone piece, or a section from a longer film. Password-protected Vimeo links are preferred. 
  • You must have worked as a Director, Producer or Editor on the project.
  • If your work sample is in a language other than English, please submit it with English subtitles. If subtitles are not possible, you may submit an English-language transcript alongside the video file.  
• Two letters of recommendation from professional references: You will be asked to provide an email address for each of your recommenders, and they will be contacted directly by Submittable to upload their recommendation for your application. The deadline for recommendations is October 11, 2023.

Applications will not be accepted by employees of Columbia Journalism School, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, or student filmmakers.

Application deadline: October 4, 2023 at 5:00pm EST. Recommendation letters will be accepted through October 11, 2023.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Applications are reviewed by a judging committee composed of Dart Center staff, Fellowship faculty, Columbia Journalism School faculty, and experienced filmmakers. Judges consider a variety of factors when evaluating applications, with an emphasis on whether applicants demonstrate consistent and thoughtful engagement with issues of violence, conflict, tragedy and their aftermath; have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers; and will likely contribute meaningfully to the fellowship and fellows cohort.

The judging committee will review applications and select 10-12 fellows, who will be notified via email. All applicants will be notified by November 10, 2023. 

Please direct any queries to documentary@dartcenter.org

For any Submittable technical issues, please click here.