Alicia Patterson Foundation - Fellowships and grants to journalists

Awarding fellowships to journalists to pursue independent projects of significant interest and skepticism that will benefit the public.

Adam Albright
Adam Medill Albright, 77

The foundation notes, with sadness, the death of Adam Medill Albright, 77, the longtime treasurer and trustee of the Alicia Patterson Foundation. His years of service to the foundation named for his aunt, Alicia Patterson, were a gift to its effective operation. Adam was a stalwart supporter of a free press, clean government, and most crucially, a healthy environment. He was a decades-long board member of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a supporter of the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Rainforest Alliance, among others. He and his wife, Rachel, supported important journalism, environmental protection, and justice initiatives through their ARIA foundation, which they set up three decades ago. An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Adam was a trekker, hiker, skier and world traveler. He is survived by his wife, beloved children Mika, Reed and Garrett and four treasured grandchildren. His contributions to truth and protecting the world’s environment are a lasting legacy. 

2023 Fellows

58th Annual Fellowship Winners

2023 Fellows Collage

Apply for a Fellowship

Applications are now open for independant writing projects funded by the Alicia Patterson Foundation. The fellowship grants, either 12 month ($40,000) or 6 months ($20,000), allow you to do independant research and writing on a topic of your choosing. At least one fellowship is aimed at science and environmental coverage.

Alicia Patterson

Alicia Patterson reluctantly became a newspaper publisher in 1940. Her husband wanted to keep her busy and she wanted to show her accomplished father that she could be as good a journalist as he was. From that timid start she created Newsday, the most successful new daily newspaper of the postwar period.

Our Mission

To promote and sustain the best traditions of American journalism, the Alicia Patterson Foundation supports journalists engaged in rigorous, probing, in-depth reporting. Through its fellowships, the foundation works to foster a community of independent journalists committed to informing the public truthfully on significant issues around the world.

Donate

For over five decades, the Alicia Patterson Foundation has been giving top journalists the time away from daily deadlines to pursue stories of significance that have changed policies, illuminated problems and educated the public. The cost of in-depth reporting and the shrinking size of newsrooms has made the support of APF even more critical for an informed society.

Current Fellows  2023 

Susie Cagle

Susie Cagle

“The Unintended Consequences of California’s Water Policies”

Anakwa Dwamena

Anakwa Dwamena

“Climate Change and Democracy in West Africa”

Oscar Lopez

Oscar Lopez

“Mexico’s Disappeared”

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

“Human Experiments: Unblinding Clinical Trials”

Melba Newsome

Melba Newsome

“Climate Displacement for People of Color”

Eric Peterson

Eric Peterson

“Domestic Violence in Utah”

Keith Schneider

Keith Schneider

“Confronting Agriculture’s Toxic Discharge”

Sophie Will

Sophie Will

“Domestic Violence in Utah”

April Zhu

April Zhu

“Culture and Power in Kenya-China Relations”

Large livestock operations, like this one in Arizona, are given broad discretion by states for managing and spreading a deluge of manure. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

New U.S. Climate Law Could Make Midwest Water Contamination Worse

Billions in clean energy incentives rely on raw materials from polluting corn and livestock. This report was made possible by an investigative reporting fellowship awarded by the Alicia Patterson Foundation. A version of this article was co-published by Circle of

Women at a memorial outside the Gold Spa in Atlanta, where three Korean women were shot and killed on Tuesday. Credit: Chang W. Lee - "The New York Times"

The Deep American Roots of the Atlanta Shooting

Among the first things I did upon learning about the shootings at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area was to check in with a former massage parlor worker I met in 2019. At the time, I was reporting an article about a prostitution raid at a Florida massage parlor.

A “No Pipeline” sticker adorns a sign near where the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would have crossed a mountain near Wintergreen Resort, just below Reids Gap in Nelson County, Virginia.

New Dominion

How a grassroots groundswell, legal challenges and political and technological sea changes combined to force Virginia’s most powerful company to abandon the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, pivot from natural gas and onto a cleaner energy path. “Hung up in the mountains”

With leading positions in top U.S. oil and natural gas plays, we continue to generate the most value from our operations through capital efficiencies, reduced expenses and strategic production.

Is Natural Gas a Fossil Fuel with a Great Future Behind It?

As the pandemic sends shock waves through the energy industry, investors are rethinking their bets on America’s decade-long natural gas boom.  On June 28th, Chesapeake Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was a long-expected announcement. The hydraulic fracturing pioneer

“A view of the cleared right-of-way for the Constitution Pipeline on the property of the Holleran family of New Milford, PA. Tree-fellers authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission used chain-saws to destroy 90 percent of the family’s maple trees that produced syrup for their business, North Harford Maple.”

The Limits of Disturbance

With its permitting authority over natural gas infrastructure, the little-known Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has sweeping power over individual citizens’ property and our collective climate trajectory. Critics say that reforming its pipeline review process should be high on President Joe Biden’s agenda.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager Brenda Barber, overlooking the site of the Loughlin’s former home in the Spring Valley section of Washington, D.C.

The House Over Hades

In June of 1996, Kathi Loughlin’s phone rang at work. It was her child’s nanny, and she was frantic. “Something is going on here, you need to come home,” the nanny said, a note of panic in her voice. Loughlin