The Lead is a weekly newsletter that provides resources and connections for student journalists in both college and high school. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every Wednesday morning during the school year.
Looking for learning opportunities outside your own campus? There’s a wealth of training resources available for students pursuing visual journalism, many of which are free or low-cost.
The following list will help you find training, mentorship and professional resources to advance your visual journalism skills. And as the end of the school year approaches, look back at the work you’re most proud of and consider entering it in contests.
Professional organizations
- National Press Photographers Association
- Radio Television Digital News Association
- National Association of Broadcasters
- National Press Photographers Foundation
Most journalism organizations offer discounted membership for students.
Workshops and trainings
- NPPA Multimedia Immersion: intensive hands-on video storytelling workshop (Syracuse, New York)
- NPPA News Video Workshop: storytelling workshop for journalists using video in their reporting (Norman, Oklahoma)
- Women Photograph Workshop: workshop for women and non-binary photographers (2022 location TBD)
- Eddie Adams Workshop: tuition-free photojournalism seminar for early-career journalists (Jeffersonville, New York)
- Missouri Photo Workshop: photojournalism workshop focused on documenting small-town America (2022 location TBD)
- Mountain Workshops: workshop for students and early career visual journalists with tracks in photojournalism, video storytelling, picture editing and digital storytelling (Kentucky)
- West Slope Photojournalism Workshop: four-week training culminating in a final photojournalism project (Paonia, Colorado)
- NPPA Women in Visual Journalism Conference: a workshop for visual journalists (2022 location TBD)
- RTDNA Conference: news leadership training open to early-career journalists (Indianapolis)
- Summer Journalism Institute: photojournalism training for high school journalists (Boston)
Scholarships and fellowships
- RTDNA scholarships: open to college students in their sophomore year or above
- RTDNA fellowships: open to professionals with less than 10 years of experience
- NPPF scholarships: eligibility varies by specific scholarship
Mentorship
- Women Photograph: formalized mentorship program for early-career women and nonbinary photojournalists
- Digital Women Leaders: offers free mentorship and coaching from 140 women working across different areas of journalism (including visuals)
- Journalism Mentors: offers free mentorship and coaching for students and early-career journalists, organized across disciplines (including visual journalism)
Contests
- College Photographer of the Year
- Hearst Journalism Awards
- NPPA Student Quarterly Clip Contest
- NPPA Student Video Contest
- RTDNA Student Murrow Awards
- SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
- Associated College Press Awards
- National Scholastic Press Association Awards
What did I miss? What other opportunities should visual journalism students be aware of? Email me at thelead@poynter.org and I’ll include them in an upcoming issue.
One story worth reading
How does constant news consumption affect our brains and how we process information? Research provides insight into addressing “news-driven crisis fatigue,” Elizabeth Svoboda writes for Nieman Lab.
“Because our phones are buzzing more or less constantly, we start to gloss over each distressing headline as it comes in,” Svoboda writes. “Over time, a constant state of distress becomes unsustainable, so the brain downgrades the apparent risk — a kind of distancing that could be dangerous in a true crisis.”
Opportunities and trainings
- College students, apply for NAJA’s Native American Journalism Fellowship by April 30.
- Register for a training on FOIA and public records from FIRE on May 5.
- High school teachers and advisers, apply for a partnership with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting by May 6.
- College students and recent graduates, apply for the NABJ-Apple News Fellowship by May 13.
- High school students, enter The New York Times’ student podcast contest by May 18.
- Apply to attend the free FIRE Student Network Summer Conference by July 1.
💌 Last week’s newsletter: How to teach video journalism in your student newsroom? Just let your reporters do it.
📣 I want to hear from you. What would you like to see in the newsletter? Have a cool project to share? Email thelead@poynter.org.
