Sulzberger 2022: 4 GNI Scholarships (and New Dates)

Today I am excited to announce that Google News Initiative will again be sponsoring four scholarships, including tuition and travel, for leaders from groups typically underrepresented in journalism to attend the upcoming 2022 Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia Journalism School, which will now start on January 3, 2022.  Applications are due November 1.

Google News Initiative first sponsored these scholarships for the 2021 Sulzberger cohort, which both directly and indirectly resulted in a 2021 Sulzberger class composed of leaders that better reflected the diversity of lived experiences that must be represented at the highest levels of leadership in journalism if we are to have an an equitable, well-functioning democracy.  The Sulzberger program has a responsibility to help news organizations deepen their bench of leaders from underrepresented backgrounds and I am thrilled that Google News Initiative is once again helping us further this mission by providing an open, direct path to access the program.  Any leader in journalism across the world who self-identifies as being from a group typically underrepresented in journalism is eligible to apply for a GNI scholarship. All tuition and travel costs for three weeks in New York City will be covered.

Today I am also announcing a slight change to the dates of the 2022 Sulzberger program.  In order to better abide by new COVID protocols at Columbia University, we will be moving up the start of the program by a week.  This will also give us the opportunity to have an overlapping experience between the outgoing 2021 cohort and the incoming 2022 cohort. Here are the new key Sulzberger program dates:

Application Deadline: Nov 1, 2021
Final Decisions: Nov 19, 2021
Residency #1: January 03-14, 2022 (updated)
Residency #2: May 23 - 27, 2022

The Sulzberger program trains leaders of the world’s most respected news organizations and promising media start-ups to lead innovation and solve strategic business challenges in a time of rapid transformation, uncertainty, and opportunity. Fellows use the 21-week program to launch, accelerate, and implement a real-world project that is critical to the mission of their organizations and integrated into their day-to-day work.  The program will begin with a two-week residency on the campus of Columbia Journalism School in New York City January 03-14, 2022 and conclude with one final week of residency, May 23-27, 2022, with weekly virtual cohort sessions in between.  Sulzberger Fellows will also have regular one-on-one executive coaching sessions with me.

Applications are open until November 1.  The application is a simple Typeform you can fill out today (no letters of recommendation required) and you can apply for a GNI scholarship by checking a box and answering one additional question.  Selected applicants will then be invited to a Zoom interview with me.

To learn more about the program, read about it on the official Columbia website and join me for the final Sulzberger program info session on Friday Oct. 29 Noon-1 PM ET.  See you then!