Think like a lawyer. Report like a journalist.
We welcome applications from journalists covering animal law and policy issues to join us this summer in beautiful Vermont.
Selected journalists will participate in the VLGS summer session, taught by internationally recognized scholars and leaders. While on campus, fellows will interact with experts in environmental and animal law and policy, forming connections that provide sources for stories and often evolve into years-long professional relationships.
Kenny Torrella, a 2023 Animal Law Media Fellow, shares, "Attending VLGS as a media fellow gave me the opportunity to learn about animal and environmental law from some of the brightest legal minds, going deep on critical issues in an open and engaging setting. I also greatly appreciated time spent outside the classroom, meeting students and professors to bond over our shared interests and learn from one another. I can't recommend the fellowship enough if you want to strengthen your legal reporting chops and grow as a thinker and journalist."
Fellows are selected based on work history and samples; commitment to covering farm animal welfare, animal agriculture law and policy, and/or factory farming; and their potential for increasing the public’s understanding of farm animal law and policy topics. Fellows will choose to audit a course from VLGS’s summer animal law and policy courses. One applicant will be selected to participate in Science of Animal Law and Policy (May 28-June 13), Animal Welfare Law (June 17-27), or The Farm Bill (July 22-August 1). Another applicant will be selected to participate in the Undercover Investigations of Animal Operations intensive (May 30- June 2). The two selected fellows will receive a stipend ($500-$1900), free housing, assistance with travel and a tuition waiver.
“Vermont Law and Graduate School has been offering summer animal law courses for over three decades,” noted Professor Delci Winders, director of VLGS’s Animal Law and Policy Institute. “We are thrilled to continue welcoming Animal Law Media Fellows into the program to learn more about these cutting-edge issues while we all build important relationships.”
In addition to attending class, fellows participate in the Summer Session’s “Hot Topics” series, delivering a 45-minute, informal lecture on the topic of their choice. Past presentations have included inhumane ventilation shut-down practices, harmful algal blooms caused by animal agriculture, and compassionate conservation.
Every summer since 2002, Vermont Law and Graduate School has invited journalists to participate in a range of environmental media fellowships. Thanks again to the generous funding from the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), the school will offer additional media fellowships focused on animal law for the fourth summer in a row.
“Journalists serve a critical function in exposing the harsh realities of the cruel factory farming system where billions of animals raised for food each year in the U.S. are confined in barren settings, and the ASPCA is proud to offer funding for Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law Media Fellowships for a fourth year,” said Kara Shannon, director, farm animal welfare policy for the ASPCA. “This fellowship provides journalists with a foundational understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that props up industrial agriculture, while also offering concrete examples of how that same framework can be used to build a more humane food system.”
Prospective fellows may submit their application online until Friday, March 29, 2024 at midnight ET. For more information, please visit vermontlaw.edu/media-fellowships or contact Laura Ireland, Associate Director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law at Graduate School, at lireland@vermontlaw.edu.