**3/7/13 Update: We will be notifying applicants by March 12. **
The National Association of Science Writers invites applications for the Laura Van Dam Travel Fellowships to this summer's meeting of the World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki, Finland, June 24-28, 2013.
Several travel fellowships, each in the amount of $2,500, will be awarded in memory of past NASW President Laura Van Dam, who died in 2006. Laura was a strong supporter of NASW's commitment to international science writing and, in fact, helped organize the first meeting of the World Federation of Science Journalists in Montreal in 2004. Our goal is not only to encourage ties between NASW and the World Federation as a way of helping the development of our craft around the world, but also to give the selected Van Dam fellows a chance to pursue story opportunities in Finland and the region, especially at a time when travel budgets are tight for many writers.
General information and a preliminary program for the WCSJ2013 can be found at www.wcsj2013.org. The conference is scheduled for June 24-28, 2013, and the travel grant is designed to subsidize airfare, registration, and travel insurance, and contribute to lodging costs. Monies will be distributed only upon submission of travel receipts post-meeting.
Those who would like to be considered for a Van Dam fellowship should send a resume and a letter combined into a single PDF file that explains:
- How this trip would fit into the kind of reporting you are now doing
- What stories you might do in Finland or Scandinavia that cannot be done here and potential markets for these stories
- What you hope to get out of attending the conference itself
Attach the single PDF to an email and send to director@nasw.org NO LATER than Tuesday, February 26, 2013, at 11:59 p.m. Include "Van Dam Fellowship" in the subject line. In order to serve as many writers as possible, those applicants who have not received any travel fellowship from NASW in the last three years will be prioritized.
Successful applicants will be notified by March 7, in time for WCSJ2013's early registration discount. Please note that awardees are responsible for all of their own travel arrangements, including acquisition of necessary visa and other passport documentation. Awardees are strongly urged to secure personal travel insurance and research U.S. State Department guidelines for countries visited. The number of fellowships awarded is dependent upon the total amount of funding available and applications, though we anticipate awarding 2 to 4 fellowships.
To learn more about the meeting, see www.wcsj2013.org.
