The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to mid-career journalists by The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. This award allows winners time to reflect on their careers and focus on honing their skills.
According to the Foundation site: "Nieman Fellowships are awarded to reporters, editors, photographers, producers, editorial writers and cartoonists, and Internet specialists with at least five years of full-time, professional experience in the news media.
At Harvard, Nieman Fellows experience discovery and enrichment, learning and reflection in classrooms, in Nieman seminars and from the close friendships that emerge during the Nieman year. The fellowship home is at the Lippmann House in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Each fellow is free to design an individual course of study. Some pursue classes in a reporting specialty. Others explore the breadth of Harvard's schools and departments. For many Niemans, it is a year of transformation, enabling them to return to their news organizations with renewed journalistic purpose. "
Between 25 and 30 fellowships are awarded annually, half to Americans and half to non-Americans.
A similar fellowship is offered at Stanford University under the name of the John S. Knight Fellowships.