The Texas Tribune 2027 Student Fellowships

Description

The Texas Tribune is now accepting applications for its paid 2027 spring and summer fellowships. We’re looking for creative, highly motivated students or recent graduates to join Texas’ premier digital news organization. Our nonprofit newsroom provides robust, nonpartisan coverage of Texas politics and public policy in a variety of formats — from breaking social videos and in-depth enterprise articles to searchable databases and editorial events.

We’re looking for college students eager to put their classroom lessons into practice and launch their careers while working toward a more engaged, better-informed, more civically aware Texas. And not just in reporting, photojournalism or data journalism. Non-journalism fellows are critical to ensuring we can continue to serve Texans with factual, nonpartisan news. 

Spring fellowships are part-time, run January to May and are for currently enrolled community college, undergraduate or graduate students. Summer fellowships are full-time, run June to August and are for currently enrolled students or recent graduates. 

How to apply

The application deadline for 2027 spring or summer fellowships is Oct. 30, 2026.

Find full descriptions of available fellowships below.

Requirements

Data Visuals Fellowship

The Tribune’s award-winning data visuals department is a hybrid news applications and graphics team. We are journalists who work closely with reporters and editors to generate story ideas, gather public data and comb through the results. Then, we use what we find to tell data-driven, visual stories that help readers understand important trends and how they affect their lives.

We seek creative journalists who can use code and graphics to help us tell stories with data. Fellows are important members of our team. In the past, they’ve had the opportunity to not only contribute to high-profile projects but also lead them.

Ideal candidates have examples of creating graphics with JavaScript, Adobe Illustrator, Figma or a charting tool like Datawrapper. They also have experience analyzing data with Python or R. Candidates should be passionate about politics, policy and open government.

Questions? Contact Chris Essig, data visuals editor, at [email protected].

Engagement Fellowship

We’re hiring fellows to help engage audiences in our politics and policy coverage across platforms.

This may include packaging Tribune stories for Instagram, WhatsApp and Reddit; contributing to our daily newsletters; writing explainers or guides; and pitching and editing short-form videos or other original content for social platforms.

Ideal candidates have:

• Solid news judgment and experience reporting and writing on deadline.
• Sharp social copywriting skills and experience using social networks for newsgathering.
• Experience editing visual stories (including social graphics, audio, video and/or other multimedia). This is not required but is highly valued.

Questions? Contact Director of Audience Growth and Engagement Matt Adams at [email protected].

Events Fellowship

We seek fellows to join our events team to help coordinate, promote and execute some of the Tribune’s 40+ annual events, including the annual Texas Tribune Festival.

Events fellows are responsible for crafting event listings, devising and executing event promotional strategies, and managing event production tasks. We want creative self-starters who are reliable, quick on their feet and comfortable managing multiple projects at once.

Questions? Contact Senior Director of Events and Live Journalism Matt Ewalt at [email protected].

Marketing and Communications Fellowship

Our marketing and communications fellows assist in coordinating marketing and media relations for Tribune products, including events and news. They help the MarCom team with copywriting, digital marketing and social media placement, project management and field marketing. They also assist with community outreach efforts through email and phone calls to increase awareness of and attendance at events, and they help coordinate media interviews for Tribune reporters.

We need creative self-starters who can quickly learn and adapt to new systems and processes. Strong candidates can demonstrate their reliability in rapidly changing environments and their ability to work comfortably on multiple projects with a hybrid team. Strong writing skills are a must; experience writing marketing copy is preferred. In-person or hybrid candidates strongly preferred.

Questions? Contact Director of Marketing & Communications Kerri Qunell at [email protected].

Photography Fellowship

We’re seeking aspiring photojournalists to edit on the photo desk and make images in Central Texas and beyond.

Assignments involve breaking news and feature photography on a range of issues, including elections, the Texas Legislature and state policy topics such as health, education, immigration, criminal justice and the environment. You will also gain experience working on the photo desk, including story production tasks such as image selection, editing visual packages and producing off-platform content.

Questions? Contact Pu Ying Huang, director of photography, at [email protected].

Reporting Fellowship — Texas

The Texas Tribune reporting fellowship provides aspiring journalists the opportunity to hone their reporting skills and learn a host of new ones that will prepare them for the modern newsroom.

We look for fellows who are ready to dive into daily news and enterprise coverage — including reporting on elections and Texas’ biennial legislative sessions — alongside our seasoned reporting staff. Ideal candidates will have experience reporting and writing on deadline and an interest in covering state policy topics, such as health, education, immigration, criminal justice, and the environment, as well as the state’s changing demographics.

Previous fellows have written about the isolation of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic and South Asian American voters, among other topics.

Questions? Contact Brandon Formby, managing editor for news and state affairs, at [email protected].

Video Producer Fellowship

The Video Producer Fellow captures audiences through short-form video content that highlights breaking news, explainers and trending stories, driving traffic and awareness for the publication across Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

This fellow will record new content and edit new or existing videos, as well as assist the team in developing and executing short form video. 

Responsibilities include:

• Producing daily videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts
• Creating captions for clips
• Editing highlights from live breaking news on tight deadlines
• Contributing to mixed media posts on Instagram
• Document metrics from Instagram, TikTok / YouTube Shorts

Qualifications:

• Solid news judgment and experience with reporting and writing on deadline.
• Experience editing visual stories, including social graphics, audio, video or other multimedia.
• Self-starting and ability to work independently, as well as within a team.
• Ability to manage multiple projects at once.
• Familiarity and experience with multimedia journalism is preferred.

Questions?  Contact Pu Ying Huang, director of photography, at [email protected].