AAJA’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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Purpose

VOICES serves as a multimedia journalism training fellowship for college and graduate students, as well as a leadership program for young journalists.

Program

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 2024 Convention in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, Aug. 7 to Sunday, Aug. 11.

Impact

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!

Programs like VOICES are important to young journalists like me because they give us a chance to be mentored by top-level professionals, report intensively on stories during a national convention and network with journalists from all over the country … My mentors guided me through each day of the program and pushed me forward on my career path. It compensated for what cannot be learned or obtained in school
Shako Liu
Shako LiuVOICES Class of 2013
I left the program with a completely new perspective on who I am as a journalist. It was because of VOICES and the extraordinary men and women who came to share their insight with us, collaborate with us on our reporting and or simply to get to know us as young journalists that I am a more inspired and ambitious member of this industry.
Matt Lee
Matt LeeVOICES Class of 2013
AAJA VOICES was a phenomenal experience. I had never considered broadcast as a career, and the VOICES faculty were instrumental in opening broadcast journalism to me as a potential option. The friendships and connections you make at VOICES stay with you long after the convention is finished.
Michelle Pham
Michelle PhamVOICES Class of 2013
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Application Information

The VOICES 2024 cycle is closed.

Applicants must be enrolled as a full-time college student or recent graduate (within one year) with a serious interest in pursuing journalism as a career.

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.

Applicants must not be a former participant in any AAJA VOICES or college student projects with similar journalism organizations.

voices applications are closed

Support VOICES

AAJA welcomes donations to its student and professional programs throughout the year. Your donation to the VOICES program will go a long way toward helping the students produce quality work and gain valuable newsroom experience!

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