The CatchLight Global Fellowship in USA is open to all internationals. It awards visual storytellers poised to ignite social change through their photography, videography, or leadership by leveraging the power of visuals to create impactful audience engagement and innovative distribution models. 

Central to the Global Fellowship goals and deliverables are sharing learnings and processes with the CatchLight community and wider field. Fellows are responsible for sharing outcomes and insights through three primary reporting mechanisms during the Fellowship year:

1. Public presentation of outcomes

2. Interview(s) with recipient and/or key stakeholders

3. Visual documentation and data collection

The benefits of the CatchLight Global Fellowship in USA are:

1. $30,000 award

2. Potential access to additional future funding through the CatchLight Impact Fund

3. Paid travel and accommodations for the 2024 CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit, April 26-28 in San Francisco. 

4. Personal development opportunities, including executive coaching

5. Impact strategy and networking support from CatchLight staff and our extended network. 

6. A community of like-minded Fellows and industry professionals with mentorship, education, and speaking engagement opportunities.

The eligibility criteria for the CatchLight Global Fellowship in USA are stated below:

1. Long-form storyteller with a specific impact project

2. Leader with a plan to advance/or grow the field

3. Educator with innovative approaches to supporting upcoming storytellers

Proposals will be assessed on how they employ and strengthen new methods and potential solutions with an eye toward one or more of the following target outcomes:

1. Innovative Distribution: Testing a new distribution method of an existing project to effectively engage a specific audience through visuals.

2. Community Activations: Testing how visual storytelling can be leveraged to engage specific audiences and/or address specific community information needs

3. Field sustainability: building systems and models that push the field of visual storytelling or media ecosystem forward.

Application Procedure

1. A fellowship statement on how visuals and your work specifically ignite social change, who your work aims to inform, and what human connections your work creates. 100 words

2. A thesis statement summarizing what you want to do and why. 100 words

3. A description of the proposed work. 250 words.

4. A description of your distribution, engagement and/or impact plan that identifies your target audience for this work. 250 words.

5. A plan to gather impact feedback. 100 words

6. A timeline for the work which can extend beyond the grant period.

7. A budget estimate for the proposed work. This budget can exceed the award amount, but please note where CatchLight funds would be used

8. Three topic ideas for sharing learning with the CatchLight community

9. 10-20 images, which, if awarded, CatchLight has the right to use in promotional materials.

10. Three professional references. Contact information must include email and phone number.

11. A short bio

12. A copy of your curriculum vitae.