Fellowship Information
This fellowship helps future religion news journalists develop their awareness of the impact of faith on politics and culture by deepening their understanding of religious expression and developing skills specific to covering belief, spirituality, interfaith cooperation and civic pluralism in America. The 2025-26 fellowship builds on the success of four previous reporting cohorts, in which more than two dozen stories by 15 fellows appeared on RNS, Interfaith America Magazine and in RNS subscriber publications.
The fellowship will run from September 2025 to May 2026. The fellows will be awarded a $4,200 stipend and are expected to report and write at least one feature religion story monthly, published on the RNS website and considered for publication, as relevant, on the Interfaith America Magazine site. The fellowship is primarily virtual, but fellows will have to travel for two mandatory, fully sponsored in-person gatherings. One is a writing and storytelling workshop in Chicago in the Fall of 2025, and another is a convening at the Religion News Association (RNA) conference in the Spring of 2026.
Application Information:
Who is eligible to apply?
Applications are open to all journalism graduates who have completed their degree in the past three years, and to freelance reporters and storytellers in interfaith spaces who may not have a journalism degree but have at least a year of relevant reporting experience. This fellowship is only open to people living in the United States.
What are the Fellowship expectations?
Fellows will pitch stories during monthly editorial meetings and work under the guidance of RNS editors to edit and publish them. The stories will be published on the RNS website and, as relevant, on the Interfaith America Magazine site. Fellows are expected to produce at least one in-depth feature story per month.
To receive the fellowship certificate, fellows must have published at least four feature stories by the end of the fellowship and attended all monthly editorial meetings, the two in-person convenings, and guest speaker sessions.
What’s the fellowship timeline?
The fellowship runs from September 2025 to May 2026.
Fellows will travel to Chicago for an in-person convening in the Fall of 2025 and to the annual Religion News Association Conference in the Spring of 2026.
What does the fellowship include?
A $4,200 stipend, workshops, and sessions with renowned religion reporters from across the nation, one-on-one mentorship with RNS and Interfaith America Magazine editorial teams, opportunities to attend editorial meetings and network with reporters and editors in the field, and two fully paid trips to the Religion News Association Conference and a writing workshop in Chicago.
Applications will be accepted until July 18, 2025. Apply by filling out this online form.
About Interfaith America
Interfaith America (formerly known as Interfaith Youth Core) is a national nonprofit that equips the next generation of citizens and professionals with the knowledge and skills needed for leadership in a religiously diverse world. Partnering with civic groups, higher education institutions, public health and business, Interfaith America is dedicated to making interfaith cooperation the norm, promoting civic pluralism, and building an interfaith America in the 21st century.
About RNS
Religion News Service (RNS) is an independent, nonprofit, and award-winning source of global news on religion, spirituality, culture, and ethics, reported by a staff of professional journalists. Founded in 1934, RNS seeks to inform readers with objective reporting and insightful commentary and is relied on by secular and faith-based news organizations in many countries.
DEI Statement
Interfaith America and Religion News Service are committed to supporting work at the intersection of racial equity and interfaith cooperation. We believe in the essential contributions of countless religious and secular traditions that affirm dignity and justice for every human being. We recognize and celebrate that movements for a better world—including the anti-Apartheid movement, and Civil Rights movement—have been fueled by interfaith cooperation. All our programs and projects incorporate a lens of equity and inclusion.
