FITZGERALD PRIZE
Background
The FitzGerald Prize is a scholarship set up by Reuters outgoing Board to honour Niall FitzGerald, its Chairman, and now Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters. Niall has a long-standing interest in Africa, having served as CEO of Unilever’s foods business in South Africa in the early 1980s. He also co-chairs the Investment Climate Facility for Africa
The award enables a young African journalist to attend an honours course in journalism at Wits University in Johannesburg. In order to be considered for the scholarship the journalist must have a degree or 3 years solid journalism experience. Once the year long honours course is finished the successful applicant will work for 6 months as a paid intern in a Reuters bureau in Africa, such as Johannesburg or Nairobi.
The scholarship pays all the University fees plus granting the winner living expenses to cover rent, books, food etc. The bursary is approximately £7000 per year.
The prize is advertised on the Thomson Reuters Foundation website, the Wits University website as well as via our local offices around Africa.
Our inaugural winner is a young lady called Olivia Kumwenda, a 26 year old Malawian journalist working with Nation Publications Ltd. She is about to complete her year in Wits and will soon move to our main news bureau in Johannesburg.
Application Process
The next winner will start at Wits in February 2010.
