Logan Nonfiction Program Announces 12th Class of Journalism & Documentary Fellows
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 25, 2021
Media Contact: Zan Strumfeld, zan@logannonfiction.org
Logan Nonfiction Program Announces 12th Class of Journalism & Documentary Fellows
24 nonfiction storytellers participate in virtual fellowship
Rensselaerville, N.Y.—The Logan Nonfiction Program welcomes its 12th class of fellows to a virtual fellowship with the Carey Institute for Global Good, with 24 celebrated journalists and documentary filmmakers participating in one of the institute’s two spring sessions beginning April 5. The fellows will work on critical long-form investigative articles, books and documentary films over the 5-week fellowship period.
“While the pandemic has shifted our fellowship fully online until further notice, we are excited to offer these incredible fellows a full schedule of events hosted by experts in their media,” said Program Manager Zan Strumfeld. “We hope this virtual experience can provide a much-needed space for focused time to work during this ongoing period of isolation.”
With this class, the Logan Nonfiction Program will have supported nearly 200 independent journalists. The fellows include filmmakers Isidore Bethel and Joie Estrella Horwitz, both listed on Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film”; Mexican director Arturo González Villaseñor, winner of the PROCINE/Secretary of Culture Day of the Dead competition; Martina Radwan, winner of the Media Awareness Award/Media That Matters Film Festival; Jessica Camille Aguirre, recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award; Kristoffer Brugada, from the Philippines, who received the top prize in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, and Best Film for Children and the Audience Choice Award/Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival; and award-winning correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson who opened NPR’s permanent bureau in Kabul, the first permanent presence in Afghanistan for a U.S. broadcast network.
The fellows of this class will be reporting on a diverse range of topics including homeless youth in Mongolia; student protests against the Nicaraguan government; a personal account of life in an Egyptian prison; Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett’s rivalry in the struggle to give women lawful access to contraception and sex education; and the life of African American poet, musician and activist Gil Scott-Heron.
Fellows were selected from a large applicant pool of nonfiction writers, documentary filmmakers, photojournalists, podcasters and multimedia creators at work on deeply reported projects. In the past, the program provided fellows with lodging, meals, professional guidance and community for up to 10 weeks on the Carey Institute’s 100-acre historic estate in upstate New York. However, due to the restrictions of COVID-19, the Logan Nonfiction Program will run a virtual fellowship which will include one-on-one formal workshop/mentoring sessions with experts in their medium; capacity building/panels from expert journalists and filmmakers; virtual film screenings; peer-to-peer workshop/mentoring sessions with other fellows, access to virtual co-working spaces to help stay productive and focused and informal virtual social spaces/social hours.
Primary funding for the Logan Nonfiction Program is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation — empowering world-changing work. Additional foundation support is provided by the Open Society Foundations.
The Logan Nonfiction Program’s mission is to empower writers, documentary filmmakers, photojournalists and multimedia creators to complete the nonfiction that changes our world. Logan Nonfiction fellows are known for bravely revealing inequality, illuminating untold truths and investigating the most pressing issues of the day through long-form narrative.
The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation supports organizations that advance social justice by empowering world-changing work in investigative journalism, arts and culture, and documentary film.
The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.
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Zan Strumfeld
Logan Nonfiction Program
zan@logannonfiction.org