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The African Liberty Writing Fellowship program is a year-long program designed to train young Africans interested in academia, media, public policy, or any other critical-and-analytical-writing-related career, in opinion article writing. Accepted applicants will complete a five-week mandatory online course. The top thirty-five candidates from the five-week training will be admitted as African Liberty writing fellows.
We’ve helped our fellows get featured in leading African and non-Africa media outlets. We’ve highlighted some below. You may visit our Media Hits page to see what fellows published in the last four cohorts.
Some of our fellows’ publications and mentions
It was an eye-opener. The fellowship brushed up my writing and analytical skills and connected me with other young people who I hold very dearly today. The certificate, skills, and people have opened doors for me in journalism, and now, in public service — Ibraheem Abdullateef 2022, special assistant on media to Kwara State Governor, Nigeria
African Liberty Writing Fellowship gave me the first platform to write regularly and get paid with serious editorial guidance. I racked up bylines in national dailies, and that gave me a lot of visibility as a writer. The experience from this fellowship helped me secure another fellowship almost immediately — Ope Adetayo 2021, writes for Aljazeera, Vice, Foreign Policy, The Guardian
The African Liberty Writing Fellowship helped me understand the need to spot and isolate biases in writing. I also learned how to use data and statistics while maintaining a good tempo in my writing — Muhammed Akinyemi 2020, sub-editor HumAngle
The African Liberty Writing Fellowship is one of the best opportunities any young writer should aspire to join. The fellowship provides editorial support and a platform to get published in a wide range of media outlets. Being a fellow gave my writing a great boost, which continues to be of immense benefit to my professional life and academic studies — Daniel Whyte 2020, Mphil candidate, University of Cambridge
I became an African Liberty Writing Fellow as a campus journalist and final year student of mass communication at the Lagos State University. The year-long fellowship propelled my career and brought along other opportunities — Mariam Ileyemi 2021, reporter, Premium Times
Apart from honing my writing skills, which landed me a handful of gigs in journalism, African Liberty got me into my first international conference, where I met the professor with whom I co-authored an academic paper that aided my admission into the Ph.D. program at the University of Texas at Dallas. — PhD student 2020, University of Texas at Dallas
FAQs
1. Is this a paid fellowship? This is a paid fellowship. Compensation is contingent upon a monthly assessment. Please beware that we do not consider financial compensation until a fellow is inducted.
2. How competitive is the program? We received approximately 1600 applications in 2022/2023 with 50 invited to the 5-week training. We inducted 25 as writing fellows.
3. Do you accept applications for senior fellowships? No.
4. What qualifications do I need? An applicant has to be enrolled in, or must have graduated from, an African institution of higher learning. Or, be an African pursuing higher education outside the continent.
5. When does the program start and end? 5-week training starts 23 May to 20 June 2023. The writing fellowship starts on July 11, 2023, and ends on July 11, 2024.
6. Where is the program taken? The program, from the 5-week training to the last day of the writing fellowship, is done entirely online.
7. Is there an application fee? No
8. Is there an admission fee? No
9. What is SFL? It is an abbreviation for Students For Liberty; African Liberty is a project of SFL.
10. Who should I contact for questions? Please contact the editor, Ibrahim Anoba (ianoba@africanliberty.org)
11. When does the application close? April 30, 2023
