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  • Apply for a Community Reporting Fellowship with Lede New Orleans!

  • Thank you for your interest in the Lede New Orleans Community Reporting Fellowship program! We are currently accepting applications from emerging storytellers, ages 18-25.

    Over the course of the 24-week program, fellows work alongside experienced journalists to produce original reporting exploring an issue relevant to Black and Brown communities in New Orleans. Fellows receive a paid training stipend, transportation support, and hands-on mentorship throughout the program.

    Applications are due Tuesday, June 30, 2026, at 11:59PM CST.

    Have questions about this application? Email Jay Marcano at jay@ledenola.org for assistance.

  • Application Guidance

    This application includes several required short response questions. Here are a few guidelines for completing them:

    • Each short response has a word limit between 150 and 300 words.
    • We recommend giving yourself time to think about, write and draft your responses in a separate document and copying them in the application form.
    • If possible, have a friend, family member or professor review them for grammatical and/or spelling errors before submitting them.
    • A note about AI: We are looking for thoughtful, personal, and original responses that reflect your own experiences, ideas and writing. The short response questions are an important part of how we assess applicants' storytelling abilities, communication skills and perspective. While AI tools can be useful in many contexts, we ask that you do not use them to generate or substantially draft your responses to these questions. Applications that appear to rely heavily on AI-generated content may receive lower scores during the review process.
  • Format: (000) 000-0000.
  • How did you hear about Lede New Orleans?*
  • Did you attend any of the following Lede New Orleans events or workshops in 2023?*
  • If you responded yes, please check all of the events and/or workshops you attended.*
  • Have you previously applied for the Community Reporting Fellowship?*
    • Experience 

    • Tell us about your previous experience.

      The fellowship is designed for emerging storytellers looking to sharpen their skills in journalism and civic leadership. Help us learn more about why you are a good fit for this fellowship.
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    • Portfolio Work

      Share a link to an original journalism or creative project that you are proud of.

    • If you have previous journalism experience, please share an original work of written, photo or video journalism. If you do not have prior journalism experience, please share an original creative project. Examples of creative projects include a photo or video you made, a poem or school paper you wrote, or a website you designed.

      Note that we accept Google Drive and Google Doc links. If you do use these links, make sure that ledeneworleans@gmail.com has access to view the file.

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    • Briefly describe your high school experience (Where did you attend? Public, Private, etc?, and your general experience.)*
    • Availability/Access 

    • Share your availability and need areas.

      Lede New Orleans is committed to connecting emerging storytellers of color, age 18-25, to opportunities to tell impactful stories with and for their communities. This section is designed to give us a sense of the incoming cohort's needs from the standpoint of scheduling, logistics and equipment.
    • The fellowship requires a commitment of about 10 hours per week from September 2026 to March 2027, with breaks for Thanksgiving, winter holidays and Mardi Gras. Are you able to commit to this time requirement?*
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    • Which of the following best reflects you? Choose as many as apply.*
    • Do you face any of the following access hurdles? Choose as many as apply.*
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    • Background & Identity 

    • Share your background and story?

      Lede New Orleans is dedicated to promoting an inclusive environment for emerging creative professionals and storytellers of all backgrounds. Specifically, this fellowship is focused on supporting creative professionals from communities that are underrepresented in local media, including the Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American and LGBTQ+ communities. Let us know how you identify.

    • Share your background and story

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    • Race/Ethnicity

      Lede New Orleans is dedicated to promoting an inclusive environment for emerging creative professionals and storytellers of all backgrounds. Specifically, this fellowship is focused on supporting emerging storytellers from communities that have been historically underrepresented in local media, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian communities. Let us know how you identify.
    • Which of the following best reflects your racial/ethnic identity? (Choose as many as you like.)*

    • Gender Identity (OPTIONAL)

      We ask for gender identification in order to better serve the community & fulfill our mission to create more equitable, responsive and impactful media. This is OPTIONAL.
    • Which of the following best describes you? Select as many as apply.
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    • Do you identify as LGBTQ+?*
    • Are you fluent in a language other than English?*

    • Tell us more about yourself.

      The following short response questions are meant to give us a sense of who you are and your outlook. These questions are not meant to stress you out. They are one part of what our review panel will consider when reviewing applications.

    • Applicants have two options for submitting their responses:

      1. Provide written responses, OR
      2. Record and submit an audio response using a voice recorder app on your phone.

      If you are submitting audio recordings,

      1. Please email your audio file to ledeneworleans@gmail.com with the subject line "Audio Responses: YOUR FULL NAME" OR
      2. Text your audio responses to 504-410-5276 (Don't forget to text your name.)

      Here are a few extra tips for completing this section:

      • Please note that written responses are limited to 300 words.
      • Audio response length are limited to 1 minute per response.
      • We recommend giving yourself time to think about, write and draft your responses in a separate document before copy/pasting them here.
      • If possible, have a friend, family member or professor review them for grammatical and/or spelling errors before submitting them.
      • We are looking for thoughtful, personal and original responses. Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are super helpful for quickly completing generic application questions. Those tools are not appropriate for this section. If your short response section relies on AI generated responses, your application will be removed from consideration.

      If you need clarification on something, please direct questions to Jay Marcano at jay@ledenola.org.

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    • You're almost done! Your last task is to record a 2-minute selfie video introducing yourself. It doesn't have to be anything fancy; you can record it by yourself from your phone. Watch this selfie video from Lede New Orleans Executive Director Jen Larino for an example of what to do.

      Use your video to tell us:

      1. Your name;
      2. A dream, goal or aspiration that you have for yourself; and
      3. What specifics of Lede New Orleans do you believe will help you reach that goal? (Be sure to research our organization)
      4. How you will serve the New Orleans community as a Lede New Orleans fellow.

      To submit your video:

      • Email your video to ledeneworleans@gmail.com; OR
      • Text your video to 504-410-5276 (Don't forget to text your name with video.)

      Note: Lede is pronounced "leed" :)

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