Application preview
Curious about what’s involved in applying for a JSK Fellowship? In this preview, we share the questions we ask on the application and briefly explain why we’re asking them. Our goal is to provide information that will help you prepare an application that gives us a clear understanding of why you are seeking this fellowship.
The deadline for international applications is 1 p.m. Pacific time, December 4, 2024; the deadline for U.S. applications is 1 p.m. Pacific time, January 15, 2025. We do not accept late applications.
Have questions about the application or the fellowship? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions. Information about fellowship stipends and other benefits, eligibility, and the dates of upcoming webinars for prospective applicants is on our Become a fellow page. If you don’t find an answer to your question, email us at jskfellowships@stanford.edu and someone will get back to you. We look forward to reading your application!
The JSK Fellowships Application
About you
The first sections of the application asks for some demographic information, which we use to help assess and improve our fellowship recruiting efforts. Then we ask a few questions to learn more about you.
Brief professional profile (up to 200 words)
Please write a brief professional profile. Think of this as something you’d like to have published on a website or conference program to describe you professionally. Please write it in the third person.
Why have you decided this is a good time for you to apply for the fellowship? (up to 250 words)
We’re interested in professional and personal factors.
What led you to become a journalist? (up to 700 words)
This is your opportunity to help us learn about your personal background and the events and influences that led you to journalism.
Journalism
Now that you’ve told us what led you to become a journalist, in this section we’d like to learn more about your current priorities for your work in journalism and the reasons they matter to you.
What currently motivates you to work as a journalist? (up to 250 words)
If you had the opportunity to step away from your current work responsibilities to be a JSK Fellow and spend some time exploring ideas for how you might help tackle a problem in journalism, what problem would you focus on? Why? (up to 250 words)
Tell us about one accomplishment you’ve had in journalism that you are proud of. What makes it stand out for you? (up to 150 words)
An accomplishment doesn’t have to be a specific story or coverage. It could be something you did that helped other journalists or your community.
For your response to the next two questions, we ask you to imagine it is three years from now . . .
What do you want to be doing in journalism? (up to 250 words)
What would you want to have contributed to other journalists — or the community you seek to serve — through your journalism? Why is this important to you? (up to 250 words)
A community could be geographic or it could be based on other traits or qualities.
Thinking about the previous two questions, what are you seeking from a JSK Fellowship to help you toward the goals you’ve shared? (up to 250 words)
Please be as specific as you can about why this would be a priority for you.
Next, international applicants are asked to rate the level press freedom in their country and answer the following question:
Is this affecting your work as a journalist? How? (up to 250 words)
If you have had to alter your approach in order to be able to continue working as a journalist, please tell us about that.
Leadership
One of our top priorities is to help JSK Fellows grow as leaders. These questions help us understand where you are in your leadership journey.
Please describe your leadership experience on a scale from 1 (minimal) to 5 (5 years or more).
Our focus is not on official management titles. If you’ve helped influence or guide the priorities and direction of a group, team or organization (past or present), or mentored others, that is leadership.
What is one of your strengths as a leader? Give us an example of a time when your actions demonstrated that strength. (up to 250 words)
What is an aspect of leading others that you would like to be better at? Give us an example of a time when your actions fell short. (up to 250 words)
Fellowship
What is a topic or subject area other than journalism that you’d like to spend time exploring and learning about while you are at Stanford? Why? (up to 150 words)
We’re interested in getting a glimpse of one of your interests that isn’t explicitly related to journalism. It doesn’t need to be a deeply intellectual topic – it could be something “just for fun.”
Are there specific people or organizations at Stanford you would hope to connect with during a JSK Fellowship? Why? (up to 150 words)
Answering this question is optional.
What would you hope to learn from the other fellows in your group? (up to 250 words)
What would you hope to contribute to the fellowship cohort? (up to 250 words)
Final Items
A “selfie” video (.mp4, .mov or .hvec file upload)
We’ll ask you to send us a brief (no more than 1 minute long) video of yourself explaining your primary motivation for applying for a JSK Fellowship this year. We are not expecting great production values or 4K resolution; webcam or mobile phone videos are encouraged.
Work history and example
We ask for basic information about your current work status, a resume and one example of your work.
References
We ask you to provide the names of 3 professional references. These should be people who can speak to your professional and personal qualities that would help you make the most of a JSK Fellowship and the close cohort experience that it involves.
Note: Due to the large number of applications we receive, we do not contact references for all applicants. We also are not able to notify applicants before we contact references.
Artificial Intelligence disclosure
It is acceptable to make limited use of AI tools to assist you in preparing your application. However, you must disclose that you used AI tools and explain how you used them. Acceptable uses include as a brainstorming tool to help you organize your thoughts and as an editing tool to refine and polish your draft answers to ensure they are clear and free of unnecessary repetition.
JSK Expectations
The final step you must complete in order to submit your application is to review and acknowledge the expectations we have of all JSK Fellows.
- Spend the academic terms in residence at Stanford, from September 2025 to May 2026.
- Commit yourself full time to the fellowship, forgoing other regular professional work commitments. (Your full-time job is to be a JSK Fellow.)
- Attend all JSK Fellowships events and activities. (We have events every week and sometimes weekend and evening activities.)
- Publicly share, at regular intervals, updates on your fellowship experience.
- Be respectful and civil in your interactions with JSK Fellows, affiliates, JSK staff, Stanford students, faculty and other members of the Stanford community. (We do not tolerate “brilliant jerks.”)