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 the impact of the coronavirus on the state, 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. Candidates should be available to work in person when it is safe to do so.
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.
We are only taking applications for HBCU fellowships at this time; click here to apply. We will accept applications in the spring for the following fall fellowships: copy editing, data visuals, engagement, engineering, events, marketing and communications, multimedia, photography, reporting (Austin) and reporting (Washington, D.C.). See their descriptions below.
Copy Editing Fellowship
Do you obsess over commas and capitalization? Do you follow AP style even when you write notes to yourself? If so, you might be perfect for our copy editing fellowship.
We look for meticulous students to edit Texas Tribune stories, event programs and membership emails in our innovative, fast-paced newsroom. You’ll need to follow the Associated Press Stylebook — and the Texas Tribune style guide — to help ensure everything the Tribune publishes is clear and consistent.
Questions? Contact Emily Goldstein, copy chief, at egoldstein@texastribune.org.
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 and JavaScript and/or Adobe Illustrator. 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.
Applicants with illustration and/or motion graphics experience are a plus.
Questions? Contact Emily Albracht, design director, at ealbracht@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 John Hernandez, assistant director of audience, at john.hernandez@texastribune.org.
Engineering Fellowship
The Tribune’s engineering team supports technology efforts across the organization, including the core website and content management system, membership services, platform integrations, and analytics products. We want fellows who can help expand on and integrate these tools and systems. Ideal candidates would have experience with JavaScript or Python, as well as a mix of experience with Git, web technologies (HTML+CSS) and data management.
Specific projects will be informed by the skills and interests of the fellow, but themes might include work with automated testing, data processing, site performance, user experience and accessibility. Fellows will participate in biweekly sprints, work directly with engineers, and collaborate with departments including editorial, design, membership and sponsorship.
(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 Jacki Brinker, director and experiential producer, events, at jacki.brinker@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. We’ll give bonus points to those who have experience with Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Google Ads or Twitter Ads.
Questions? Contact Natalie Choate, chief communications officer, at nchoate@texastribune.org.
Multimedia Fellowship
Help bring stories to life through a fellowship with The Texas Tribune’s growing multimedia team. Fellows create zippy social media shorts, livestream breaking news and assist with long-form documentaries. You’ll also pitch, shoot and edit exciting Texas news stories for an engaged online audience, and you will work closely with the multimedia team and reporters to expand the Tribune’s growing online multimedia presence.
Familiarity and experience with multimedia journalism is preferred. Working knowledge of audio/video equipment and editing software like Adobe Premiere is a big plus.
Questions? Contact Todd Wiseman, video and multimedia senior editor, at twiseman@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.
Reporting Fellowship — Austin
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.