Since 1997, the Prospect has sponsored what’s been called “the best starter job in journalism.” It’s called The American ProspectWriting Fellows program—and we have two openings for the fall.
Fellows get to spend two years with the magazine, work closely with our editors, and publish a wide range of articles, from print feature pieces to web commentaries. Most of our fellows are straight out of college. A few have a little more experience.
As a matter of principle, we pay well, so that this is not limited to rich kids subsidized by parents. It's one of the best things that we do.
By the time they graduate, our fellows are among the finest and best-trained journalists of their age cohort—as borne out by the careers they go on to pursue.
Our alums include some of America's most distinguished young journalists, including Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias of Vox and Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo. These Prospect alums invented whole new genres as well as new online publications.
Also Nick Confessore and Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times; Adam Serwer at The Atlantic, Tara Zahra, who was a 2015 MacArthur genius award winner; Dana Goldstein, now a respected education and criminal justice writer; Richard Just, editor of The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, law professor and public intellectual Jed Purdy—a total of nearly three dozen.
We prize diversity, and each fellow class usually includes one person of color.
If you are interested in applying, or know someone who might be interested, please check out this page. We have rolling admissions. Our first deadline is March 30. We have rolling admissions. Our first deadline is March 30.