Tech x Religion Feature Reporting Fellowship

Rest of World is an international nonprofit newsroom that challenges expectations about whose experiences with technology matter. We connect dots across a rapidly evolving digital world, through on-the-ground reporting in places typically overlooked and underestimated.

Since launching in 2020, we’ve published stories from nearly 100 countries outside the West. Our work explores the spaces where tech, business, culture, and human experience collide, through compelling storytelling and fresh, innovative design. Our journalism ranges from deep authoritative reporting to highlighting surprising online cultural phenomena. Rest of World’s reporting has won recognition in the U.S. and internationally, and our work has prompted companies and policymakers to take action.

Rest of World is excited to announce a new opportunity for reporters who want to explore the intersection of technology and religion through immersive, long-form reporting. We are looking for three reporting fellows to work on ambitious feature stories about how technology is transforming religious practices in Latin America, Africa, Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The fellowships are supported through a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Applicants should pitch an idea for a story that falls under one of the following themes:

How technology is being adapted for spiritual and religious practices
How social media is fueling the rise of religious influencers
How technology is being used to surveil and target ethnic and religious minorities.

You can see some of Rest of World’s previous reporting on the intersection of technology and religion here. Our long-form features, typically 3,000 words or more, involve in-depth, on-the-ground reporting and are usually narrative in style. You can get a sense of our features across topics and regions from this most recent story about Foxconn’s struggle to make iPhones in India, electric car company BYD’s challenges with expansion, and how indigenous residents of Borneo are using mapping technology to claim their land rights.

The three successful applicants will each receive a stipend of $10,000. This amount comprises the writer’s fee and a budget for travel and other approved reporting expenses. The fellow will be supported and mentored by the Rest of World Features team throughout the program. In addition, the fellows will be invited to New York City toward the end of 2024 to visit the Rest of World offices and participate in a symposium to showcase their work.
Who should apply

This fellowship is open to journalists at any stage of their career and based anywhere in the world. While the applicants themselves can be from any country, we prefer that their story proposal is grounded in the country or community they hail from or are deeply familiar with.

We are looking for international journalists who have an interest in technology and/or religion and experience in reporting and writing long-form features. You should have an idea for a long-form story or project, focused on technology, that you would like to report in one of the regions that Rest of World covers. Ideas should have the technology’s impact on religion at the forefront; we are less interested in, for example, culture- or politics-led stories that involve only a small amount of tech or religious impact.

We are looking for ambitious proposals that go beyond a typical assignment, requiring extended reporting (possibly across multiple locations), in-depth sourcing, and a significant time commitment. Our aim is for this fellowship to support work the applicant would otherwise not be able to complete due to time and/or budgetary constraints. You should also be able to make the case for why you are the right person to report the story — whether that’s subject matter expertise or knowledge of the location or community in question.
Timeline

The deadline for applications is January 31, 2024, and the successful applicants will be informed by February 16, 2024.

Applicants should be prepared to conduct their reporting and submit a first draft of their story by July 1, 2024.
How to apply

To apply, please submit the following to jobs@restofworld.org with “Religion Feature Fellowship” in the subject line.

One-page resume/CV
A 500-word story pitch, including how you intend to report the story and what you hope to produce as a result. Please give us a sense of the key characters in the story and how the narrative will unfold.
A reporting budget, including estimated travel costs
Three recent examples of your work
Contact information for two references

You may be asked to provide further information on your story idea or to attend a phone/video interview during the selection process.