Texas Tribune Student Fellowships
The Texas Tribune — a nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news organization — offers paid fellowships to college students each spring, summer and fall. Fellows play key roles in the most important work of The Texas Tribune, covering the biennial legislative sessions, elections, and changes to the environment and climate, among other important topics. See recent work by Texas Tribune fellows here.
The positions are part time in the spring and fall and are full time in the summer. They are typically based in our Austin newsroom, except for the Washington, D.C., reporting fellowship.
Recent graduates are eligible for the summer program, but spring and fall fellows must be enrolled undergraduate or graduate students while they work at the Tribune. You may apply for more than one position.
For general questions about the fellowship program, please contact Andy Alford, director of editorial recruitment, training and career development. We do not accept applications by email.
Fellowships, which are part-time during the fall and spring semesters and are full-time during the summer, are available in the following positions: data visuals, design, engagement, engineering, events, marketing and communications, photography, product and reporting.
We are not accepting applications for fellowships at this time. Links to apply for fall 2024 fellowships will be posted here in the spring. See fellowship descriptions below.
Data Visuals Fellowship
The Tribune’s award-winning data visuals department is a hybrid news applications and graphics team. We are journalists who work closely with reporters and editors to generate ideas, request public records and comb through the results. Then, we use what we find to tell data-driven, visual stories.
We seek creative journalists who can use code and graphics to help us tell stories with data. Fellows are important members of our team. In the past, they’ve had the opportunity to not only contribute to high-profile projects but to take the lead on them.
Ideal candidates demonstrate experience creating graphics with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Adobe Illustrator or Figma. We’re also interested in applicants with experience analyzing data or building news applications with Python and Django. They are passionate about web standards, willing to discuss and show their code, and deeply interested in politics, policy and open government.
Questions? Contact Chris Essig, data visuals editor, at datavisualsfellowship@texastribune.org.
Design Fellowship
The design team is seeking creative individuals who are interested in visual storytelling and the intersection of design and journalism. The design team works across the organization to ensure visual consistency across our various products and platforms.
Candidates should have an eye for design, typography, layout, photography and color, as well as the ability to see concepts and assets through to final delivery. They should be comfortable with the presentation of ideas, mood boards, storyboards and mockups.
Preferred candidates have a digital portfolio demonstrating original design and layout skills and experience with Adobe Creative Suite - Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign.
Questions? Contact Chief Creative Officer Jacob Villanueva at jvillanueva@texastribune.org.
Engagement Fellowship
We’re hiring fellows to help engage audiences in our politics and policy coverage across platforms. This may include packaging Tribune stories for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; contributing to our daily newsletters; helping produce live discussions for our readers; and pitching and editing short-form videos or other original content for social readers.
Ideal candidates have:
- Solid news judgment and experience reporting and writing on deadline.
- Sharp social copywriting skills and experience using social networks for newsgathering.
- Experience editing visual stories (including social graphics, audio, video and/or other multimedia). This is not required but is highly valued.
Questions? Contact Director of Audience Growth and Engagement Matt Adams at matt.adams@texastribune.org.
Engineering Fellowship — AI & machine learning
The Tribune’s engineering team supports technology and innovation efforts across the organization, including the core website and content management system, membership services, platform integrations, and analytics products. We are seeing and testing many opportunities for AI to enhance our products and processes across the organization, and we are seeking a fellow who is eager to dedicate efforts to AI in newsrooms, working with us to explore and build tools in this growing space.
Ideal candidates have experience with Python, Git, data management, and data science or visualization. Direct experience with AI, machine learning or large language models is a plus but not a requirement. We only require some technical chops and a willingness to learn and explore this new terrain with our engineering team.
Fellows will participate in biweekly sprints, work directly with engineers, and collaborate with departments, including editorial, design, membership and sponsorship. Specific AI/ML projects will be informed by the skills and interests of the fellow and the needs and capacities of the Tribune in this rapidly developing environment.
(Note: This is not an editorial role or a data visuals position.)
Questions? Contact Ashley Hebler, engineering manager, at ahebler@texastribune.org.
Events Fellowship
We seek fellows to join our events team to help coordinate, promote and execute some of the Tribune’s 60+ annual events, including the annual Texas Tribune Festival. Events fellows are responsible for crafting event listings, devising and executing event promotional strategies, and managing event production tasks. We want creative self-starters who are reliable, quick on their feet and comfortable managing multiple projects at once.
Questions? Contact Director of Events and Live Journalism Matt Ewalt at matt.ewalt@texastribune.org.
Marketing and Communications Fellowship
We look for fellows to help strategize and coordinate media relations and marketing efforts for Texas Tribune products, including news and events. Marketing fellows are responsible for building relationships with Texas and national media, devising plans for content distribution and announcements, increasing awareness of key products to target audiences, and executing on marketing promo-swaps. These fellows also are responsible for drafting press releases, pitches, and promotional copy for upcoming events, investigations and projects.
We want strong communicators and systematic thinkers who are reliable, are quick on their feet and want to have a big impact on an innovative newsroom in a fast-paced setting. Bonus points if you have experience with Google Analytics, Meta Ads or Google Ads.
Questions? Contact Director of Marketing & Communications Kerri Qunell at kerri.qunell@texastribune.org.
Photography Fellowship
We’re seeking aspiring photojournalists to shoot photos for The Texas Tribune in Central Texas and beyond. Assignments have included political candidates on the campaign trail, protests at the state Capitol and portraits of those affected by state policy. Ideal candidates are equally comfortable with breaking news and feature photography and can quickly switch gears and go from a Capitol hearing to a college classroom.
Questions? Contact Pu Ying Huang, photo editor, at pyh@texastribune.org.
Product Fellowship
The Tribune’s product team works across departments to organize priorities and shepherd major projects and initiatives that support both editorial and business needs. We ensure that our technical and design resources are well-scoped and advocate for user experience and data-informed decision-making across the organization. We are looking for fellows who are committed to product and innovation in journalism to help us gather and analyze data to inform feature development and product prioritization.
Specific projects will be informed by the skills and interests of the fellow, but themes might include working with editorial and business units on dedicated user research projects, such as surveys, interviews, and user testing; analyzing and drawing conclusions from qualitative and quantitative data; constructing and communicating user personas; or conducting experiments and A/B tests to validate feature development.
Fellows will be full participants on the product team, joining regular standups, meetings and sprints, and leading presentations with colleagues across departments ranging from editorial leadership to revenue and development staff. Ideal candidates will have experience with user research and familiarity with user experience design and the potential and challenges of measuring audience behavior.
Questions? Contact Reese Oxner, product manager, at reese.oxner@texastribune.org.
Reporting Fellowship — Texas
The Texas Tribune reporting fellowship provides aspiring journalists the opportunity to hone their reporting skills and learn a host of new ones that will prepare them for the modern newsroom.
We look for fellows who are ready to dive into daily news and enterprise coverage — including reporting on elections and Texas’ biennial legislative sessions — alongside our seasoned reporting staff. Ideal candidates will have experience reporting and writing on deadline and an interest in covering state policy topics, such as health, education, immigration, criminal justice and the environment, as well as the state’s changing demographics. Previous fellows have written about the isolation of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic and South Asian American voters, among other topics.
Questions? Contact Matthew Watkins, managing editor for news and politics, at mwatkins@texastribune.org.
Reporting Fellowship — Washington, D.C.
The Washington, D.C., reporting fellow works alongside the Washington correspondent to cover the Texas congressional delegation, U.S. House and Senate elections, and the biggest Texas news in the nation’s capital.
A must: experience reporting and writing on deadline. Nice to have: an obsession with politics or Texas (or both).
Questions? Contact Matthew Watkins, managing editor for news and politics, at mwatkins@texastribune.org.