Applications open for the 9th year of the international summer school for future journalists. They will also learn from Pulitzer winners

For the ninth time, the family foundation is opening doors to the established international program, and not only to Czech students. Students of journalism and related fields from a total of 14 countries can participate including Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Great Britain and USA. Participants thus have an exceptional opportunity to establish professional contacts and friendships with ambitious journalists from all over the world.

"We want to give aspiring journalists the opportunity to learn from some of the world's best journalism personalities that they would otherwise probably not meet," says Petra Judová, manager of the Journey program. "We believe that passing on examples of good practice across borders is one of the ways to high quality, ethical journalism, which is so important and desirable in today's turbulent times."

Renowned professionals from the world's top media and agencies such as CNN, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg or the Associated Press will once again pass on their lifelong experience to young journalists. Three winners of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize will appear among the speakers of the ninth year. Investigative journalist Adam Entous, currently staff-writer for The New York Times, won this award twice, in 2023 for reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in 2018 for investigating Russian influence on the US presidential election. This experienced journalist will teach Journey participants the methods of cutting-edge investigative journalism as well as journalistic ethics. American journalist Brenna Smith, who worked in the Bellingcat group, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 together with the team of The New York Times. She will introduce students to the important trend of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) which involves investigation using new technology and publicly available sources. The newcomer to this year's Journey will be award-winning journalist Ben Taub from The New Yorker magazine, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on war crimes in Syria.

"It's amazing to learn journalism from such experienced world journalists," testifies one of the Journey participants, Pavlína Černá. "It's such a mind-blowing experience to not only learn in such a small classroom setting where every question can be answered, but then also chat over breakfast with journalists I have long admired."

Applications to Journey 2024 are now open until April 3, 2024. The summer school itself will take place in August 2024 in Prague. Successful candidates will receive a full scholarshipd from the Bakala Foundation covering all course-related costs, including accommodation, travel and meals.

Since the beginning of the program's existence in 2015, more than 160 participants have gone through it, today working in the media of 17 countries accross the world.

More information and applications can be found on the Journey website.