Maynard 200 Fellowship

Since launching in 2018, the program has served the next generation of storytellers, leaders, frontline editors and entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds by providing relevant training courses, resources and mentorship by distinguished media professionals and experts. In 2024, as we reach our goal of 200 program participants, the Maynard 200 Fellowship will focus on serving managers and editors.

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Changing the face of journalism

Our Maynard 200 Fellowship alumni are a thriving network of media professionals, advancing in both mainstream and ethnic media newsrooms, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Prism, the 19th News, Mother Jones, theGrio, the Associated Press, the Washington Informer, Mundo Hispanico, the Kansas City Defender, Nieman Journalism Lab, and many others. Some have also secured grants to launch entrepreneurial media ventures of their own.

One of the most inclusive professional development programs in journalism, Maynard 200 has supported fellows from a wide range of racial, ethnic, geographic, and socio-economic backgrounds, spanning newsrooms across the U.S.. Maynard programs are open to all applicants and benefit from a broad mix of perspectives, experiences, and identities—including race, ethnicity, tribe, class, gender, generation, geography, ability, and sexual orientation. This diversity strengthens journalism by ensuring broader representation in leadership and storytelling.

The continuation of this cornerstone program will be critical to advancing the Maynard Institute’s efforts to expand the diversity pipeline in American media and dismantle structural racism in its newsrooms. These leaders will have the opportunity to change the management culture including hiring practices in institutional and entrepreneurial news organizations.

Maynard Institute programs are open to all. We are committed to addressing the under-representation of people of color and other historically disadvantaged groups in media-related professions.

Watch this 3 minute video to understand why the Maynard 200 program is so meaningful to both fellows and faculty. The video kicks off with scenes from the 2022 welcome reception, where guests were asked to describe how they felt about the program in one word. From “Inspired” and “honored” to “supported” and “connected,” fellows shared how they felt. The one word spoken into the microphone by Denise Watson, features editor at The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press in Virginia, was “empower…that’s what Maynard has always done and that’s what I hope to do.“

The Maynard Institute thanks the organizations that have been instrumental in recruitment and selection of our Maynard 200 fellows including Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Poynter Institute, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York (CUNY), and Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ). Special thanks to IRE’s support for the 2021 mentorship roster, which includes their distinguished board members and network partners.