International Reporting Project Fellows Selected at JHU SAIS for Fall 2006 Program

Washington, D.C. - Eight U.S. journalists, including the second recipient of the NPR-Bucksbaum International Fellowship, have been awarded International Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) for the fall 2006 program.

The 13-week fellowships, which are aimed at encouraging coverage of international issues by the U.S. news media, begin this week at SAIS.

The U.S. journalists will focus on stories in China, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and the Republic of Congo. The IRP program combines eight weeks of study in Washington, D.C., and five weeks of individual overseas reporting. Since 1998, 138 journalists have been selected as IRP Fellows and have reported from more than 75 different countries.

The IRP Fellows include one journalist who will receive an additional five weeks of training with National Public Radio as the NPR-Bucksbaum International Fellow, a position made possible by a grant from Carolyn and Matthew Bucksbaum. The recipient of that fellowship is Nazanin Rafsanjani, a New York-based public radio journalist. During her NPR training, she will focus on production, editorial and on-air skills, and produce a project for one of NPR's newsmagazines.

"We're delighted to welcome our second NPR-Bucksbaum International Fellow since the fellowship was established last year," said John Schidlovsky, IRP director.

The IRP Fellows for fall 2006, their affiliations and the countries on which they will focus are:

• Sarah Carr, education reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - China
• Jennifer Dunn, production director, KTUH-FM, Honolulu - China
• Na Eng, producer/associate producer, "NOW," PBS, New York - Burkina Faso
• Matthew Ozug, producer, Sound Portraits Productions, New York - Cambodia
• Nazanin Rafsanjani, freelance radio reporter, New York - Iran
• Eva Sanchis, reporter, El Diario-La Prensa, New York - Cuba
• Jacob Silberberg, freelance photographer, Baghdad - Venezuela
• Katie Thomas, special writer, Newsday, New York - Republic of Congo

Two of the fall 2006 IRP Fellows, Jennifer Dunn and Matthew Ozug, are focusing on international health issues. Each year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides support for IRP Fellows to cover global health issues.

The fall 2006 fellows were selected by a committee of distinguished journalists that included: Luis Botello, director of Latin American programs for the International Center for Journalists; Jim Cox, international editor, USA Today; Jeremy Kahn, managing editor, The New Republic and an IRP alumnus; Phuong Ly, freelance writer and an IRP alumna; Candace Rondeaux, staff writer, The Washington Post and an IRP alumna and Michael Tackett, Washington bureau chief of The Chicago Tribune.

For more information about applying to the IRP Fellowships Program, call 202.663.7761, email irp@jhu.edu or visit internationalreportingproject.org.

The IRP Fellowships Program is based at SAIS, one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located in downtown Washington, D.C., the school enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained approximately 13,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs.