The Melbourne Press Club is pleased to award $18,000 in grants in the latest round of the Michael Gordon Journalism Fellowships program.

Our national fellowships program supports social justice journalism by funding projects newsrooms might not have the resources to cover. It is named in memory of Michael Gordon, the respected former political editor of The Age newspaper who died suddenly in February 2018.

This round’s successful projects cover a range of social justice issues. The four journalists chosen as 2021-22 Michael Gordon Fellows are:

• Jordyn Beazley – University of Melbourne, The Citizen – ‘Things are crook in the bush’ Story 1, Story 2
  

• Ruby Schwartz – Schwartz Media, 7am Podcast– ‘Investigating Indigenous voter suppression’ Part 1, Part 2
  

• Miki Perkins – The Age– 'Investigating how climate change and rising sea levels are affecting the life and future of traditional owners in Torres Strait.' Read now
  

• Charlotte Grieve– The Age/SMH – ‘A project examining the impact of the federal government's energy strategy on regional communities as well as the environment’ Read now
  

The selection panel included former ABC and Sky News journalist Jim Middleton, Guardian Australia Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam and former Fairfax Books managing editor Robyn Carter.

Melbourne Press Club CEO Cathy Bryson said the response to this round illustrated the need for the program.

“The club received applications from around the country, each of high quality. We are proud to be able to support talented Australian journalists to pursue important projects in these challenging times and we thank our supporters for enabling the program to continue.”

We extend our congratulations to all of this year’s Michael Gordon Fellowship recipients. Thank you to everyone who applied, we encourage future submissions from all.

The Michael Gordon Journalism Fellowships are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, Nine, and Robyn Carter.