The Dow Jones News Fund runs this annual summer program and arranges paid placements at media companies across the United States. Applicants choose among audience engagement, business reporting, data journalism, digital media and multiplatform editing, but use one application and take one qualifying test. Selected interns first complete one week of all-expenses-paid specialist training, then work in a newsroom for 10 to 12 weeks.
The program dates to 1960 and supports nearly 100 college students each year. Training directors assign placements using factors including location, experience, test performance and newsroom requests.
Benefits & funding
- A weekly salary of at least $525 for 10 to 12 weeks.
- One week of all-expenses-paid pre-internship training.
- A $1,500 college-tuition scholarship and a one-year membership in a professional journalism organization.
- Industry mentors plus access to the program’s peer and alumni network.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be full-time college sophomores, juniors, seniors or graduate students on November 11, 2026; December graduates are included.
- U.S. students studying abroad may apply, as may international students already in the United States with authorization to work on a student visa.
- Recent graduates are ineligible, as are former professional journalists with at least one year of full-time staff experience.
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Application process
- 1Prepare a résumé, an unofficial transcript, a personal essay of no more than 500 words, three to five work samples combined into one document and contact details for two references.
- 2Submit the online application by November 11, 2026 and indicate one or more preferred training tracks.
- 3Use the Synap invitation sent after submission to take the complete timed, closed-book qualifying test by November 15, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
- 4If selected, accept the training site and newsroom placement assigned by the program.
Program timeline
Application deadline.
November 11, 2026
Qualifying-test deadline at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
November 15, 2026
Approximate selection period.
December 2026–March 2027
Pre-internship residency programs begin, depending on track.
May 15–June 7, 2027
Paid newsroom internships run for 10 to 12 weeks after training.
Summer 2027