McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism
Grants up to $15K for High-Impact Stories that “Follow the Money”
Applications are now open for the Fall 2025 McGraw Fellowships for Business Journalism. If you have a great idea for a high-impact story that “Follows the Money” but need funds to get it done, we’d love to hear from you.
The McGraw Fellowships, an initiative of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, provide experienced journalists with a grant up to $15,000 and the editorial support needed to produce deeply reported enterprise and investigative stories that delve into critical issues related to the economy, finance or business. Given the enormous changes in federal spending and policy priorities now taking place in Washington DC, we are particularly interested in story proposals that examine the impact of these changes. Both freelance and staff journalists in all forms of media with at least five years’ professional experience are eligible. Journalists from diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
The upcoming deadline to apply is October 13, 2025
Previous McGraw Fellows have explored a wide variety of topics — and you don’t need to be a business reporter to apply. Many have focused on health care issues. Others have been generalists, or follow beats such as the environment, workplace or corporate accountability.
Read our recent Fellowship stories:
- FDA Approved – And Ineffective The Lever
- Inside the controversial tree farms powering Apple’s carbon neutral goals MIT Tech Review
- At US Magnesium, safety equipment went offline and Utahns reported an acrid fog. Here’s how regulators reacted. Salt Lake Tribune
- Radioactive Shadow Workers Sierra Magazine
- ‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing Home Implosion Politico
- California cuts back on safety enforcement as farm workers toil in extreme heat Los Angeles Times
- New York Regulators Found High Levels of TCE in Kindra Bell’s Ithaca Home. They Told Her Not to Worry Inside Climate News
- When Hospitals Sue Patients An Arm & A Leg and KFF Health News
- The Deadly Secrets Behind “Breakthrough” Alzheimer’s Drugs The Lever
- The Promise and Perils of the New Fertility Entrepreneurs NewYorker.com
- Lead keeps poisoning children. It doesn’t have to. Grist
Interested, but have questions about the program or want to discuss an idea? Come join us on Zoom for McGraw Fellowship Office Hours, which we’ll hold every Thursday at 12-1 pm ET through 10/9/25. You’ll also find more information, an FAQ, and the application at www.mcgrawcenter.org and can contact us directly at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu. We accept applications twice a year, in fall and spring. Spring 2026 applications will be due April 13, 2026.
The McGraw Center for Business Journalism was established at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2014 by the family of the late Harold W. McGraw, Jr., former chairman and CEO of McGraw-Hill and long-time publisher of BusinessWeek magazine. The Center is dedicated to enhancing the depth and quality of business and economic news coverage through training, student scholarships and support for veteran journalists.
The Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in midtown Manhattan is the only publicly supported graduate journalism school in the Northeast. Led by Dean Graciela Mochkofsky, the School offers 16-month Master’s degree programs in Journalism and in Spanish Language Journalism.
CONTACT:
Jane Sasseen
Executive Director
McGraw Center for Business Journalism
mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu
Check out the McGraw Fellowship: Grants up to $15K to report high-impact stories that ‘Follow the Money’