NORA MAGID MENTORSHIP PRIZE 2005: CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Applications are now being accepted for the 2005 Nora Magid Mentorship Prize.
Nora Magid was an extraordinarily gifted and giving teacher of non-fiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania from the mid-1970s until her death in 1991. During those years, she nurtured an amazing number of students, who came to be known as "Nora-ites." Many went on to earn some of the top jobs in magazine and newspaper writing and editing, and have won most of print journalism's most prestigious awards. Others have had similarly successful careers in the arts, business, law and medicine. In 2003, a group of them came together to create a mentorship prize in her memory.
The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize is given each year to a senior at the University of Pennsylvania who shows exceptional ability and promise in non-fiction writing and editing, and who would benefit most from combined mentorship of Nora's network of former students and their colleagues. The prize is $1000, which is to be used as a stipend for transportation, lodging and meals as the student travels to New York, Washington and elsewhere to develop professional contacts at magazines, newspapers, publishing houses and broadcast networks.
Applicants must submit a "mentorship proposal" which should describe your career goals, your strengths and weaknesses as a non-fiction writer, and how you would hope to benefit from the mentorship network created by Nora Magid. (A partial list of Nora-ites is available on the website www.NoraPrize.com, but the wish-list in your proposal is not restricted to Nora alumnae.) Along with the proposal--which should be no longer than two typewritten pages--you must submit two journalistic non-fiction writing samples (please do not send fiction or poetry, or academic writing), a resume, and a recommendation from the Penn faculty member most familiar with your writing.
The winner will visit those Nora-ites and their colleagues who seem most able to assist in the student's professional goals. In this way, the student will get the kind of quality mentorship during the last semester of college that Nora's students received when she was alive. After graduating and taking a first job, the prize-winner will be expected to become part of the network of Nora-ites and help other graduating seniors.
The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize is a component scholarship fund of The Philadelphia Foundation, a community foundation serving southeastern Pennsylvania. Donations to the fund are completely tax deductible.
Submissions may be made starting October 1, 2004 and must be postmarked no later than December 1, 2004. The winner will be notified by January 15, 2005. For further information, go to the website at www.NoraPrize.com.
Please send submissions to:
Nora Magid Mentorship Prize
c/o Eliot Kaplan
Hearst Magazines
1345 Avenue of the Americas 10th Floor
New York, NY 10019
If you have any questions, please contact:
Stephen Fried
Author, Adjunct Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism 215-592-1662 sf@stephenfried.com
Eliot Kaplan
Editorial Talent Director, Hearst Magazines
212-649-2064
ekaplan@hearst.com
Scholarship Advisory Committee
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Miriam Arond, editor-in-chief, Child Magazine
Barri Bernstein, executive director, Tennessee Bar Foundation David Borgenicht, owner and publisher, Quirk Books, author Sandee Brawarsky, author, book columnist, The Jewish Week Jean Sherman Chatzky, author, financial columnist, Money Magazine & Today Show Lisa DePaulo, contributing editor, GQ Stefan Fatsis, author, sports columnist, Wall Street Journal & National Public Radio Loren Feldman, editorial director, Inc. magazine Randall Lane, president and editor-in-chief, Trader Monthly John Prendergast, editor-in-chief, Pennsylvania Gazette Joel Siegel, producer, senior editor and writer, ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings"
The official registration and financial information of The Philadelphia Foundation may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement