Poynter Announces the 2017 Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Poynter Institute will once again offer a transformative, tuition-free leadership program to train digital media's best and brightest women in early spring of 2017.

The third Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media, offered to 28 participants, will take place the week of March 19-24, 2017, at Poynter's campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. The interactive, five-day program will focus on critical leadership skills specific to digital media for the industry's next generation of women leaders. While the curriculum is under development, Poynter is pleased to announce that the first committed 2017 guest faculty and leadership coaches include Raju Narisetti, senior vice president of growth and strategy at NewsCorp, and Vivian Schiller, an independent adviser, whose former titles include head of news at Twitter, senior vice president and chief digital content officer at NBC, and CEO and president of National Public Radio.

Poynter will continue to build upon the dynamic 2016 seminar, which was the second and final program in a two-year partnership with the Online News Association (ONA). During the first two years, the academy received close to 1,000 applications for just over 50 available seats. At the conclusion of the two-year partnership between Poynter and the ONA, it became clear that the demand for quality leadership training for women in digital media was great and warranted expansion. ONA recently announced plans to offer an independent Women's Leadership Accelerator in early 2017.

The 2017 Poynter Academy will be led once again by Katie Hawkins-Gaar, Poynter's digital innovation faculty member and author of The Cohort, a twice-monthly newsletter designed to foster community, featuring relevant articles and resources related to women in leadership as well as spotlighting women making an impact in digital media. Butch Ward, senior faculty teaching leadership, reporting, editing and writing at Poynter, will partner with Hawkins-Gaar once again to foster the program and participants.

"The Leadership Academy offers an incredible opportunity to empower, train and connect talented women working in journalism," said Hawkins-Gaar. "As the academy continues to grow, I'm proud to bring increased attention to major issues like pay inequality and the gender imbalance in newsroom leadership."

Poynter will continue to convene a group that represents need and diversity across ethnicity, age, geography, technology platforms, organization size and skill sets. Applications are scheduled to open in November 2016.  Because of the small size of the class, preference will be given to candidates who have demonstrated aptitude for leadership and will benefit from intensive training to further their careers in digital media.

"The ONA-Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media was one of the most inspiring and impactful experiences of my entire life," said Ngan Hoang, front-end designer at Vox Media and a member of the 2016 academy. "I've grown and learned so much in my career and in my personal life. I had no idea that within a week I would gain 27 new best friends!"

Tuition will be offered for free, thanks to the generous support of the program's naming sponsor, The McClatchy Foundation, as well as additional funding from Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and craigconnects.  Poynter is seeking additional funding from media and technology companies, foundations and academic institutions to enhance this transformative learning experience.

Participants will cover their own travel costs. However, a limited number of travel stipends will be available and will be determined once the application process is completed. Poynter will open applications for the first time to international candidates in response to clear worldwide demand for this important training.

"As an established global leader in journalism education, we are thrilled to continue the practice of supporting women in digital media by offering the powerful combination of Poynter's long-established leadership training and the expertise of digital media leaders to create a truly unique and transformative experience," said Poynter president Tim Franklin. "Poynter is well positioned to not only help these women advance their leadership skills today, but to continue fostering a path of career-long learning," Franklin noted.  

To learn more about the program as details emerge, including notification of the application timeframe, please click here: http://www.poynter.org/2017-women-digital-media/

About The Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a global leader in journalism education and a strategy center that stands for uncompromising excellence in journalism, media and 21st century public discourse. Poynter faculty teach seminars and workshops at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and at conferences and organizational sites around the world. Its e-learning division, News University, www.newsu.org, offers the world's largest online journalism curriculum in 7 languages, with more than 400 interactive courses and 330,000 registered users in more than 200 countries. The Institute's website, www.poynter.org, produces 24-hour coverage of news about media, ethics, technology, the business of news and the trends that currently define and redefine journalism news reporting. The world's top journalists and media innovators come to Poynter to learn and teach new generations of reporters, storytellers, media inventors, designers, visual journalists, documentarians and broadcast producers, and to build public awareness about journalism, media, the First Amendment and protected discourse that serves democracy and the public good.

Contact: Tina Dyakon
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The Poynter Institute
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