HBCU students can apply to attend IRE, CAR Conferences as Knight Scholars

College students at several historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are invited to apply for the Knight Scholarship to attend IRE’s data journalism and annual investigative reporting conferences.

Scholarships will cover travel and registration for selected students. They also will receive mentorship before and during the conference to help them make the most out of the experience. Each student will contribute to our conference blog during the event.

The 2016 deadline to apply for both conferences is December 7, 2015.

See eligibility/application information and apply online!

Since 2014, more than 25 students have been awarded Knight Scholarships. Here’s what a few of them are up to:

Brittany Collins is a reporter at WGXA in Macon, Ga. "I can say for sure that going to the IRE Conference in Philadelphia and the CAR Conference in Baltimore changed my way of thinking. During many of my job interviews I had story ideas ready to be pitched and the news directors were impressed with my depth of research. I met many mentors from IRE and CAR who have helped me out in various ways and they continue to give me advice on storytelling."

LaCrai Mitchell is a line producer and the online content editor/producer for Florida A&M's live student newscast. In 2015 she was picked to be one of the Online News Association's HBCU Digital Media Fellows.

Timothy Tukes is a Huffington Post campus editor-at-large and a junior at Morehouse College. He serves as a student ambassador for The White House Initiative on HBCUs and also writes for print and other online outlets like Black Enterprise and CollegeData.com. "My experience at IRE in June 2014 connected me with award-winning journalists like the Wall Street Journal's James Grimaldi and NBC’s Eva Parks who work both in print and broadcast. I’m sure those relationships will prove themselves to be valuable after my graduation in May 2017. The IRE conference showed me the value of an ethical, diligent investigation."

Glynn Hill completed an internship at the Associated Press in Washington, DC and accepted a job at the Houston Chronicle. "I think IRE helped open my mind to the types of stories out there that can be told in a variety of ways. I used that knowledge to execute and pitch different story ideas this summer and will continue to do so in Texas."