52nd Annual Competition Fellowship Winners for 2017

The Alicia Patterson Foundation

2017 Fellowship Winners

Picture of Leslie Chang

Leslie Chang

Freelance journalist Ridgway, CO.

“Factories and Faith: The Working Women of Egypt”

Picture of Elizabeth Douglass

Elizabeth Douglass

Special correspondent, Inquire First Encinitas, CA.

“Public Water – Private Water: An investigation into privatization in the U.S”

Picture of Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson

Freelance journalist; contributor to Chemical & Engineering News Washington, D.C.

“Industrial Accidents: What We Don't Know Can Kill Us”

Picture of Suzanne Sataline

Suzanne Sataline

Freelance journalist Brooklyn, NY.

“Hong Kong at the Edge

Picture of Jonathan Waldman

Jonathan Waldman

Freelance writer Boulder, CO.

“Making Things Last: Engineering Resilient Systems”

Picture of Jocelyn Zuckerman

Jocelyn Zuckerman

Freelance writer; contributing editor Modern Farmer and Condé Nast Traveler Brooklyn, NY.

“How Palm Oil is Re-Shaping the World”

52nd Annual Competition Fellowship Winners Announced for 2017


For Immediate Release Contact: 202-246-3751

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Top journalists will pursue topics ranging from the dangers of ignored nuclear maintenance to whether Hong Kong will move into China’s orbit as the newest recipients of an Alicia Patterson Foundation grant. The foundation, in its fifth decade, funds American journalism’s oldest writing fellowships.

The annual fellowships are designed to foster independent in-depth reporting on local, national and international affairs. The Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship program for journalists was 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, a quarterly web magazine published by the Foundation. Every year, the Fellows’ articles and photo essays are widely distributed through newspapers, news services, magazines, and websites worldwide. Fellows’ work often is published jointly with their “home” news outlet and has resulted in many national awards.

The winners were selected through a highly competitive process of screening by panels of judges, as well as submitting detailed proposals, examples of past work, and references.
More than 344 reporters, editors, and photographers have won Alicia Patterson fellowships since the foundation was established in 1965.

This is the second year a fellow will be named for Cissy Patterson, who was Alicia’s aunt and editor of the Washington Times-Herald. The fellowship is given to a journalist pursuing a topic in science or the environment. Jocelyn Zuckerman, a writer and editor from Brooklyn, was chosen for the honor. She will be examining environmental havoc caused by palm oil throughout the globe.

The trustees of the foundation named one fellow in honor of Josephine Patterson Albright, a former Newsday columnist, sister of Alicia Patterson and a major benefactor of the foundation. The Josephine Patterson Albright fellow is Elizabeth Douglass, special correspondent for Inquire First, who is detailing the privatization boom in public water systems.

For program information and applications for the 53rd annual competition, contact:
Alicia Patterson Foundation
1100 Vermont Ave. NW, 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 393-5995
Email: info@aliciapatterson.org
Applications may be downloaded at: www.aliciapatterson.org

Applications must be submitted by October 1, 2017.

Judges for the 52nd Annual Competition:
Russell Clemings – APF Fellow ‘89
Sandy Close – founder, Pacific News Service and New America Media
Patrick Hoge – journalist and APF Board Member
Robert Lee Hotz – senior writer, The Wall Street Journal and APF Board President
Rita Henley Jensen – founder, Women’s e-News and APF Fellow ‘94

Dominic Phillips

Dom Phillips 1964-2022

It is with great sadness that the Foundation acknowledges the death of Dom Phillips, who was researching solutions to protect the Amazon under his Alicia Patterson fellowship.