Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Network Fellowship 2027

Applications open 13 September 2026

Understand

Programme details

The Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Network Fellowship is a full-time, 12-month opportunity for experienced journalists who want to investigate major threats facing the world’s oceans and the communities that depend on them. Up to eight fellows will work remotely from their own countries beginning in January 2027, with a salary, reporting budget, editorial support, specialist training, and access to an international reporting network.

The fellowship is intended for staff and freelance journalists with a strong record of investigative or in-depth ocean or environmental reporting. Proposed projects should go beyond a general topic or single story and uncover underreported systems, wrongdoing, harmful practices, or failures of governance. Priority areas include climate change, overfishing and illegal fishing, pollution, biodiversity loss, extractive industries, deep-sea mining, marine finance, shipping, aquaculture, marine protected areas, polar issues, seafood supply chains, and the financial structures enabling environmental harm. Data-led, science-based, transparency, governance, and cross-border investigations are especially encouraged.

Fellows receive close support from Pulitzer Center editors and its Data, Research, and Engagement teams. They can develop stronger investigative methods, work with satellite imagery and specialist databases, follow financial and commercial networks, collaborate across countries, publish sustained reporting through an established newsroom, and build professional relationships that continue beyond the fellowship.

Applicants may be based anywhere in the world. The Pulitzer Center particularly welcomes journalists from the Global South and is seeking stronger representation from Asia-Pacific and East Africa. Selection considers the strength and feasibility of the investigation, the applicant’s experience, the quality of the reporting plan, newsroom commitment, collaboration potential, and the likely public impact of the work. Applications close on 13 September 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Shortlisted applicants are expected to be interviewed in October 2026, with the fellowship beginning in January 2027.

Be an experienced professional journalist with a proven record of investigative or in-depth reporting on oceans or environmental issues.
Have a strong understanding of ocean issues and the scientific, environmental, social, legal, political, and commercial forces connected to them.
Be a staff or freelance journalist working in print, online, radio, video, or multimedia. Fellows may be based anywhere in the world, but must work for or be hosted by a media organization with national or international reach.
Secure the support of a newsroom and dedicated editor that will host or employ the applicant, help manage the project and reporting budget, provide editorial support, and publish the work produced during the fellowship. This requirement applies to both staff journalists and freelancers.
Propose a compelling, innovative, and well-developed investigative or in-depth ocean reporting project that can be pursued over a full year. General topics or one-off stories are not sufficient, and applicants should complete substantial pre-reporting before applying.
Be able to make the fellowship the applicant's main, full-time reporting commitment for 12 months and publish regularly according to a timeline agreed with the Pulitzer Center and the applicant's editor.
Have the experience and willingness to collaborate across newsrooms, countries, and regions, share information and investigative methods, and learn new reporting skills. Cross-border teams may apply, but one journalist must lead the application and manage the project.
Be willing to participate in engagement and outreach connected to the investigation, including activities with communities, schools, universities, professional networks, or other relevant audiences.
Hold a valid passport for the entirety of 2027.
Applications are encouraged in English, but the current call accepts application materials in other languages when necessary.
The proposal must express the applicant's own story concept, editorial judgment, and journalistic voice. Translation assistance, light proofreading, and writing support are permitted, but substantively generated AI or large-language-model content is not accepted.

A full-time reporter's salary for 12 months, commensurate with the fellow's experience and local professional context.
Up to USD 10,000 in additional reporting expenses for costs directly supporting the investigation.
Dedicated mentorship, editing, and guidance from the Pulitzer Center's Ocean Editor and other experienced editors.
Research and data support, including help with data collection, analysis, visualization, documents, financial structures, supply chains, and asset tracing.
Access to specialist databases and reporting resources for corporate research, vessel tracking, trade data, legal and business information, and environmental monitoring.
Regular specialist training in areas such as satellite imagery, digital investigations, corporate research, follow-the-money reporting, data scraping, public speaking, and professional development.
Opportunities to collaborate with Ocean Reporting Network fellows and journalists across countries and regions on investigations with wider international impact.
Support from the Pulitzer Center's Engagement team to share reporting with communities, educators, students, professional networks, and other audiences.
Editorial support in identifying collaboration and syndication opportunities while the fellow and publishing newsroom retain editorial independence.
Membership in an international community of investigative ocean journalists that continues beyond the fellowship period.

Prepare

Important dates

24 Aug 2026
Applications open
13 Sep 2026
Application deadline at 11:59 p.m. EDT

Required documents

Resume or curriculum vitae

Submit a current copy of the applicant's professional resume or curriculum vitae.
Newsroom letter of support

Provide a letter from the applicant's media employer or a newsroom that has agreed to host the applicant. The letter should confirm that the newsroom understands the proposed project, will provide a dedicated editor and ongoing support, and intends to publish the reporting produced during the fellowship. This is required for both staff and freelance applicants.
Three investigative work examples

Provide three examples of the applicant's most impactful investigations published within the past five years. The samples should demonstrate relevant investigative or in-depth journalism experience.
Three professional references

Provide the contact details of three professional references. The public call also describes these as professional references or letters of recommendation; follow the fields presented in the application portal when submitting.
Valid passport

The applicant must hold a passport that remains valid for the entirety of 2027.

Essay questions

Question 1

Describe the investigative or in-depth reporting project you want to pursue during the fellowship. Propose a concrete story rather than a general theme, explain the wider systemic wrongdoing or abuse it seeks to uncover, and show the project's scope, feasibility, novelty, pre-reporting, and reporting plan. If the investigation has a cross-border approach, explain the collaboration plan and identify partners inside and outside the Network.

Max 800 words
Question 2

Explain how your project will be published and distributed, which audiences you want to reach, and how you will engage them.

Max 500 words
Question 3

How does this fellowship fit with your career path, and why are you best positioned to be an Ocean Reporting Network Fellow?

Max 500 words

Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Network Fellowship 2027

Programme details

Eligibility requirements

Benefits

Important dates

Required documents

Essay questions