Voices’ mission, history and impact
The Asian American Journalists Association’s Voices program is a rare opportunity for college students to develop reporting and leadership skills under the tutelage of industry professionals.
A cohort of 15-17 students participate in pre-convention training that will include interactive online courses, and are assigned stories covering the journalism industry and AAPI community. Finished works are then published on the Voices site at voices.aaja.org. This innovative opportunity, which celebrated its 30th year in 2020, trains students and professionals before and during AAJA’s annual convention.
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Subscribe to AAJA’s newsletterVoices serves as a multimedia journalism training fellowship for college and graduate students, as well as a leadership program for young journalists.
Voices is a student fellowship program that equips student journalists with career-ready skills to succeed in the continually evolving media landscape. The program aims to help journalists understand how audiences engage with them, how communities view the work they produce, and how they can understand the impact their work has. By nurturing relationships between students and professional volunteers, Voices gives fellows the opportunity to tap into mentors’ networks and grow their own.
We are looking for undergraduate and graduate students who are excellent storytellers and who are interested in new technologies and story forms. Reporters, social media strategists, designers, developers, data engineers, podcasters, broadcasters and bloggers are all welcome to apply. Students will learn the soft skills needed to succeed in school and the workplace and work in teams to produce a news project.
We are also looking for editors: professional journalists who serve as mentors and coaches to the students during their time in VOICES. Editors work as supervisors on the team reporting projects, facilitate training sessions and prepare the students for their time at the AAJA Convention and for graduating from the classroom to the workplace. Being a VOICES editor is an opportunity to hone leadership skills, build lasting relationships and attend the AAJA National Convention.
The program this year will consist of months-long training and project work that begins in late spring and culminates at the AAJA 2023 Convention in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, July 19 to Saturday, July 22.
Students from the program’s 30-year history have gone on to work for news outlets like Bloomberg and the New York Times. Many Voices alumni return to the program as faculty and mentors; in 2013, Voices entered the third generation of students who came back as staff. Alumni also provide key networking opportunities and donate to the program. Find out what alumni from past programs are doing now!
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The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a membership nonprofit advancing diversity in newsrooms and ensuring fair and accurate coverage of communities of color. AAJA has more than 1,500 members across the United States and Asia.
