Data Journalism Internship (Summer 2027)

If you have a curious spirit, an appetite for investigative journalism and love numbers, data journalism is for you. Spend next summer asking tough questions, digging into government records and building interactive data visualizations that reveal untold stories.

Interns attend a week of training refining skills like making Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, learning computer-assisted reporting and analyzing and cleaning data in order to tell rich, often hidden, stories before starting internships where they apply these skills to issues like education, health care, government, criminal justice and the economy.

Important dates

• Application deadline: Nov. 11, 2026
• Test deadline: Nov. 15, 2026
• Selection is December-March (approximately)
• Pre-internship residency programs start between May 15-June 7, 2027

Application Process

To apply to the DJNF college internship program, students must complete an online application, attach supporting documentation and take a timed, online test. The application deadline for summer 2027 is Nov. 11, 2026. The deadline to complete the test is Nov. 15 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

Application Form

Students must complete an online application. We recommend you begin once you have assembled all required attachments:

• A résumé
• An unofficial transcript
• A personal 500-word essay (Tell us about a time in your schoolwork or reporting when something challenged your own assumptions. What did you discover?)
• Samples of your work. Please attach 3-5 clips of stories you wrote or links to digital content you produced. For data journalism you may attach code you have written or a data visualization you created; editors can provide headlines, page designs or social media posts. To stay within the five upload limit, please combine your work samples into one PDF document.

You will also need to be able to supply contact information for two references.

After clicking “Submit,” you will NOT be able to return to the application. Within 48 hours you will receive an email from Synap to create an account, where you can access the qualifying test. The link to create your Synap account expires in seven days, after which time the staff will need to send another link.

Test

Once we receive a completed application, we will email applicants an invitation to take our qualifying test. The test must be completed by Nov. 15 to be considered for the DJNF program. To prepare, applicants can review previous test questions and a test prep webinar.

Program Benefits

Selected students receive immersive, specialized, all-expenses paid pre-internship training, weekly salaries of at least $525 for a minimum of 10 weeks; $1,500 scholarships for college tuition; and one-year memberships to professional journalism organizations.

Criteria

College sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students who are enrolled in school full-time as of the application deadline are eligible to apply for the college internship programs. This includes December graduates. Former professionals (those who have worked full-time on staff as a journalist for a year or more) in the U.S. or abroad are not eligible. U.S. students studying abroad and international students already in the U.S. with work visas are also eligible.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EEO/Disabled/Vets.