Press Council announce inaugural fellowship winner

The Press Council of Ireland has awarded a fellowship to attend an international journalism conference to Alice Chambers, an investigative journalist with TheJournal.ie.

The fellowship is a new initiative which sees the Press Council enter into partnership with the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) to fund an early career journalist to participate in the network’s annual conference. This is to be held next month in Gothenburg in Sweden.

Ms Chambers, who has worked for Noteworthy, TheJournal.ie’s crowdfunded and community-led investigative platform since 2022, said she had wanted to attend a GIJN conference for years but had been unable to afford it.

“I am excited to learn from some of the inspirational and highly experienced journalists who’ll be speaking or on panels,” she said. “I am particularly keen to discuss using artificial intelligence for investigative reporting. I think it can be a big asset if we can learn to use it well.”

The winner was the unanimous choice of the judges for the prize, the Press Ombudswoman Susan McKay, documentary maker Trevor Birney and data journalist Rachel Lavin.

“We had a shortlist of 4 excellent candidates, but Ms Chambers’ application was outstanding,” said Ms McKay. “As well as the innovative work she is doing at Noteworthy, we felt she showed a real passion for journalism, and had clearly thought through how she could benefit from participating in the conference.”

Press Council Chairman, Rory Montgomery said that at a time when serious investigative journalism was more important than ever, “we are delighted to support a highly impressive young reporter in partnership with a network that brings together journalists from all over the world”.