FT announces Sir Samuel Brittan fellowship

The following excerpt announcement was sent out by the Financial Times:

The Financial Times is delighted to announce a new journalism fellowship to honour the memory and celebrate the legacy of Sir Samuel Brittan. Sir Samuel was a towering figure of post-war intellectual life in Britain, as well as one of the most influential economic writers of his generation. He died in October 2020, aged 86.

As economics editor of the Financial Times for almost half a century, his columns and articles shaped the political life and economic debate in the UK and beyond.

The new fellowship will be funded jointly by the Financial Times and by Sir Samuel’s family. We are looking for the first fellow to join the FT for a six-month stint in September 2021.

Who is the fellowship for?

We are looking for early career applicants with expertise and interest in economic themes and thinking. This will typically require a degree in economics, but we are happy to consider graduates from other fields provided they can demonstrate their ability to write engagingly and incisively about economic issues. Sir Samuel possessed a brilliant mind but also an ability to explain complex themes in simple and striking terms. That is a key quality that our selection panel, chaired by the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf, will be looking for.

What does the fellowship entail?

We are offering a six-month internship at the FT’s London headquarters, split into a three-month stint in the leader writing team and a three-month stint with the economics team. Fellows will get the opportunity to write FT editorials on a wide range of themes, and take part in the daily leader conference where the FT editorial board discusses the burning issues of the day. But they will also be exposed to the FT’s core news operation, and will be expected to file news stories as well as economic analysis pieces for the home page and newspaper. The fellowship includes a monthly bursary which is above the London living wage.

How do you apply?

Applicants are asked to submit a cover letter and a CV along with an unpublished article or column of no more than 1,000 words. The piece should examine an economic issue of current interest, and should be written in a spirit that reflects the work of Sir Samuel himself.

The deadline for applications is 30 April 2021.