58th Annual Competition Fellowship Winners for 2023

Susie Cagle Freelance journalist Alameda, CA “The Unintended Consequences of California’s Water Policies”

Anakwa Dwamena Freelance journalist Columbus, OH “Climate Change and Democracy in West Africa”

Oscar Lopez Freelance journalist Mexico City, Mexico “Mexico’s Disappeared”

Jyoti Madhusoodanan Freelance journalist Portland, OR “Human Experiments: Unblinding Clinical Trials”

Melba Newsome Freelance journalist Charlotte, NC “Climate Displacement for People of Color”

Keith Schneider Freelance journalist Benzonia, MI “Confronting Agriculture’s Toxic Discharge”

Eric Peterson K. Sophie Will Journalists with Utah Investigative Journalism Project Salt Lake City, UT “Domestic Violence in Utah”

April Zhu Freelance journalist Ellicott City, MD “Culture and Power in Kenya-China Relations”

Final Judges for the 58th Annual Competition:

Sandy Close – founder Ethnic Media Services, Pacific News Service and New America Media

Erika Hayasaki– associate professor, U.C. Irvine Literary Journalism Program and APF’18

Robert Lee Hotz– journalist and chairman, Alicia Patterson Foundation

Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn– associate director, Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities; instructor at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism

For Immediate Release. Contact: 202-246-3751

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eight compelling projects will be undertaken in the coming year by nine accomplished journalists, who are the newest recipients of an Alicia Patterson grant. Their topics range from agriculture’s ruinous effects on humans, land and water to to a system of clinical trials that's often inaccessible to patients. The foundation, in its fifth decade, funds American journalism’s oldest writing fellowships.
The annual fellowships foster independent, in-depth reporting on local, national and international topics. The fellowships were established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson, who was editor and publisher of Newsday for nearly twenty-three years before her death in 1963.
The Fellows are awarded $40,000 for a 12-month grant and $20,000 for a six-month grant.
The new Fellows will spend their fellowship months traveling, researching and writing articles on their projects for the APF REPORTER, an online magazine. Each year, the Fellows’ articles and photo essays are distributed widely through websites, newspapers, magazines and news services worldwide. Fellows’ articles often are published jointly with outside news outlets and have resulted in many national awards.
The winners were selected through a competitive process. The foundation is especially interested in receiving proposals from applicants of color.
More than 446 reporters, photographers and editors have won Alicia Patterson fellowships since the foundation was established. The foundation’s directors named one Fellow in honor of Josephine Patterson Albright, who was a major benefactor of the foundation. The Josephine Patterson Albright fellow is Oscar Lopez, who is researching Mexico’s disappeared population.
This is the ninth year a fellow will be named for Cissy Patterson, who was Alicia Patterson’s aunt and editor of the Washington Times-Herald. The fellowship is given to a journalist pursing a topic in science or the environment. Melba Newsome, who examining climate displacement for people of color, will hold that title in the coming year.
For program information for the 59th annual competition, please see www.aliciapatterson.org . Apply online at: https://aliciapatterson.awardsplatform.com .
Applications must be submitted by October 1, 2023.