When UBC Journalism student Allison Griner found out there was a fellowship to write about gun control and gun lobbying, she knew she had to apply.
“Few issues spur so much passion and debate in the U.S.,” said Griner, who grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. “I was so excited to hear there was an opportunity to explore this topic.”
Her application was successful. She was recently selected for the prestigious News21 fellowship – representing the first recipient from a Canadian university.
This year the program will focus on investigating gun control in the U.S. In the lead up to her fellowship, Griner will attend weekly seminars on gun ownership and legislation in the United States via video conference.
In mid-May, she’ll travel to Phoenix, Arizona, joining a group of top journalism students from 14 American universities for 10 weeks. During that time, she will work alongside veteran journalists, including former executive editor of The Washington Post Leonard Downie Jr., and travel the United States to report and produce an in-depth project on gun control.
“I am incredibly honoured to be joining the News21 team,” said Griner. “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the UBC journalism school for preparing me and nominating me for this fellowship.”
“We’re proud to be part of this prestigious group,” said Peter Klein, director of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism. As a professor at Columbia University in New York, Klein taught students in the first News21 group in 2005, and he said many of the early News21 students “have gone on to creative, innovative careers in journalism. I expect the same of Allison [Griner].”
News21 is an initiative funded by the Knight Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation to help change the way journalism is taught and to train a new generation of journalists capable of reshaping the news industry.
Since 2006, more than 500 students have participated in News21 and their work has been featured in prestigious American publications like The Washington Post, msnbc.com and The Center for Public Integrity.
For more information about this year’s fellowship, click here.
