Reporting Grants up to $15K

McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism Grants up to $15K for High-Impact Stories that “Follow the Money”

Applications are now open for the Spring 2025 McGraw Fellowships for Business Journalism, an initiative of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. The Fellowships provide experienced journalists with a grant up to $15,000 and the editorial support needed to produce deeply reported enterprise and investigative stories with a strong economic or financial angle.

Given the enormous changes in federal spending and policy priorities now taking place in Washington DC, we are particularly interested for this round of Fellowships in story proposals that examine the impact of these changes. Both freelance and staff journalists in all forms of media with at least five years’ professional experience are eligible. Journalists from diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

The upcoming deadline to apply is April 14, 2025

Previous McGraw Fellows have explored a wide variety of topics -- and you don't need to be a business reporter to apply. Many have been generalists, or follow the environment, health care, education or other beats. Others focus on economic justice or corporate accountability. Here are some examples of their work:

• The Deadly Secrets Behind “Breakthrough” Alzheimer’s Drugs The Lever
• Prison telecoms providers are shifting strategy by exploiting tablet services Prism
• The Revolution That Died on Its Way to Dinner New York Times
• California cuts back on safety enforcement as farm workers toil in extreme heat Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main
• ‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing Home Implosion Politico
• Black Farmers and Ranchers: It’s a Dying Deal Center for Public Integrity
• Across America clean energy plants are being banned faster than they’re being built USA Today
• The EminiFX Trap: How the Haitian-American Community Fell Victim to a Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Haitian Times
• Private equity sold them a dream of home ownership. They got evicted instead. Business Insider
• Should hotel chains be held liable for human trafficking? NewYorker.com
• Who Killed Overtime Pay? Capital & Main
• Hurricane fallout creates financial ruin for Puerto Rico seniors with reverse mortgages USA Today and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

If you'd like to join them, you'll find more information, an FAQ, and the application at www.mcgrawcenter.org. If you have further questions, please contact us at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu or join us on Zoom for McGraw Fellowship Office Hours every Tuesday from 3/4/25 to 4/8/25 at 12-1 pm ET. We accept applications twice a year, in fall and spring. Fall 2025 applications will be due October 13, 2025.

The McGraw Center for Business Journalism was established at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2014 by the family of the late Harold W. McGraw, Jr., former chairman and CEO of McGraw-Hill and long-time publisher of BusinessWeek magazine. The Center is dedicated to enhancing the depth and quality of business and economic news coverage through training, student scholarships and support for veteran journalists.

The Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in midtown Manhattan is the only publicly supported graduate journalism school in the Northeast. Led by Dean Graciela Mochkofsky, the School offers 16-month Master's degree programs in Journalism and in Spanish Language Journalism.