Overview

Recharge, learn, make friends

The Asia Journalism Fellowship brings together seasoned journalists from varied backgrounds to learn and work together. From 2009 to 2019, AJF brought journalists to Singapore for three months each year to discuss journalism, pick up new skills, exchange ideas, get to know one another and Singapore. Organised for Asian journalists and held in Asia, this programme has enriched individuals and built lasting bridges of friendship across borders of this vast continent.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted AJF in 2020, as it did all aspects of our lives, and the programme was not held that year. The fellowship resumed in 2021 as an online programme held over Zoom for six weeks. Almost everyone who applied in 2020 was willing to be considered for the online edition of AJF 2021.

In 2022, with travel restrictions easing in many parts of Asia and the rest of the world, we ran the programme online for four weeks, followed by two weeks in Singapore. We also invited the 2021 Fellows to Singapore for two weeks, so we had two batches of Fellows in town for a fortnight of seminars, visits, dialogues and deepening their understanding of one another’s countries, seeing Singapore close-up, and strengthening their bonds of friendship.

In 2023, AJF will change once more, to run four weeks online and four weeks in person in Singapore. We recognise that newsroom challenges have made it increasingly difficult for Fellows to take three months off work. The experience of our “pandemic Fellows” and their feedback tell us it will be possible to continue delivering the best of AJF with a mix of online and face-to-face programmes. AJF remains an opportunity to recharge, learn, and make new friends for life.

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