The UCG Business Journalism Fellowship at Maryland

A Great Journalism Partnership: UCG, Maryland and You

United Communications Group, an award-winning business publisher that was recently voted a great place to work by Washingtonian magazine, funds a full 15-month fellowship for a University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism master's student who is interested in business journalism.

The UCG Business Journalism Fellowship provides 36 credits of tuition remission and a stipend of approximately $20,000 over the 15-month program. During the program, the fellow will study under renowned Maryland journalism professors, including:

• Gene Roberts, the former executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
• David S. Broder, the Pulitzer-winning Washington Post political columnist.
• Deborah Nelson, a Pulitzer winner and recent Washington investigative editor for The Los Angeles Times, who directs the College's Carnegie Seminar.
• Haynes Johnson, the Pulitzer-winning political journalist and author.
• Jon Franklin, the two-time Pulitzer-winning science and feature writer.
• Ira Chinoy, the two-time Pulitzer-winning computer-assisted reporting expert from The Washington Post.

In addition to the coursework, the UCG Fellow will enjoy paid and academic internships at UCG. All Merrill master's students cap their experience in the College’s Capital News Service reporting bureau in Washington or Annapolis.

To be considered for the UCG Fellowship, candidates must:

• Be accepted into the public-affairs reporting track of the Maryland journalism master’s program. Applications for the master's program are available online at the University's Web site
• Show evidence (clips) of having reported and written business stories for newspapers or magazines that demonstrate an ability to grasp technical business issues, work multiple sources, analyze material such as financial reports and present complicated information in a clear, well-written, compelling way.
• Submit a resume and cover letter stating your interest in the fellowship and in business journalism.

Fellowship winners will be required to:

• Successfully complete UCG’s 11-week paid summer internship program before starting their Merrill College coursework in September. (By starting classes in the fall, the UCG fellow would be on track to graduate 15 months later, in December.) Interns work as reporters on a specific UCG business publication. Prior to acceptance, the fellowship candidate will go through a job interview, which will also entail background and reference checks.
• Enroll in the College’s Business Journalism class in the fall semester. Successful completion of the Business Journalism Course is a requirement to retain the fellowship for the spring semester.
• Intern part-time as a UCG reporter, two full days a week, for school credit, from about Sept. 1 to mid-December.
• Maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2.

For more information about the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, go to: http://www.journalism.umd.edu .

For more information about UCG, go to: http://www.ucg.com

For more information about the UCG Business Journalism Fellowship at Maryland, contact Assistant Dean Steve Crane.