Homepage > About EWA > Fellows

2003 Fellows

EWA 2003 Winners for National Fellowships in Education Reporting

Washington, D.C., July 14 -- Two reporters have won two-month fellowships to work on special projects in education from the 2003 National Fellowships in Education Reporting, sponsored by Washington-based Education Writers Association (EWA). The program is an intensive professional development program that provides reporters a stipend, travel support, editing, research and project assistance.

The two Fellows and their topics are:

Jenel Few, Savannah Morning News, Education and the Disappearing Black Male
Brenda Wade Schmidt, Argus Leader, No Child Left Behind puts Indian schools to the test, Michigan BIA school serves as example, and Schools take small steps toward higher achievement

The Fellows participate in a personalized training program on writing and project research and direction, starting with a briefing conference in September 2003. Their study period begins in October and stories will be published early in 2004. Fellows will present their findingsto other reporters at the EWA National Seminar in San Francisco, Calif. in April 2004. The 2003 applications were reviewed by judges Pam Johnson of the Leadership Faculty of the Poynter Institute; Robert Priddy, MissouriNet news director and president-elect of the Radio and Television News Directors Association, MissouriNet; Peter Schrag, Sacramento Bee columnist who writes frequently about education; Jean Thompson, an editorial writer for Baltimore Sun; Dr. Ronald Williams, President of Prince Georges (Md.) Community College; Eligible applicants must be reporters or freelance journalists from print or electronic media who spend a majority of their time covering education issues. This is the 10th year the Fellowships have been offered. Fifty reporters have pursued projects on such topics as substitute teaching, bilingual education, magnet schools, student cheating, coping skills of minority students, black colleges, and charter schools. Announcements for the 2004 program will be distributed in early 2004, with a May deadline. The program is supported by grants from Lumina Foundation in Education and Coca Cola. Past support includes a founding grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and additional assistance from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Graustein Memorial Fund, the Joyce Foundation, the BellSouth Foundation, George Gund Foundation, the Danforth Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.