Rappler’s Patricia Evangelista bags Ochberg Fellowship

MANILA, Philippines – Rappler’s Patricia Evangelista has been awarded the 2015 Ochberg Felllowship in New York along with 12 other senior and mid-career journalists representing 9 nations and 5 continents.

The Dart Center Ochberg Fellowship is a program for senior and mid-career journalists who wish to deepen their reporting of violence, conflict and tragedy.

The program will be held on January 18-23, 2016 at Columbia University in New York City.

“The newly-selected Ochberg Fellows from nine countries represent the best of trauma-aware journalism worldwide. At a time of upheaval in the news industry they’ve all shown a deep and enduring commitment to innovative, compassionate coverage of how violence and tragedy shape the lives of individuals, communities and nations,” said Bruce Shapiro, the Dart Center’s executive director. 

Through seminars with leading experts in trauma science and journalism practitioners, the weeklong fellowship offers journalists a unique opportunity to learn about the many dimensions of psychological trauma; to explore ethical and craft challenges raised by their work; and to forge relationships with colleagues who share their interests and commitment, according to the Center.

Aside from the award-winning Evangelista, a multimedia manager of Rappler, the other 2015 Dart Ochberg Fellows are:

• Alberto Arce – Correspondent, AP, Mexico City, Mexico
• Karen Brown – Reporter, New England Public Radio, Amherst, MA
• Rachel Dissell – Reporter, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH
• Alex Duval Smith – Freelance Journalist, Warsaw, Poland
• Peter Klein – Broadcast Journalist and Director, Global Reporting Centre, Vancouver, Canada
• Pete Muller – Photographer, Nairobi, Kenya
• Dhruti Shah – Social News Producer, BBC, London, United Kingdom
• Beauregard Tromp – Multimedia Journalist, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Imtiaz Tyab – Middle East Correspondent, Al Jazeera English, Jerusalem, Israel
• Shoshana Walter – Reporter, Center for Investigative Reporting, San Francisco, CA
• Sarah Wildman – Freelance Journalist, Washington, DC
• Cindy Wockner – Network Investigations Editor, Brisbane, Australia

The fellowship was established in 1999 by the Dart Center in partnership with the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.The fellowship is named in honor of psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, M.D., a pioneer in trauma study. 

Last year, Evangelista won the Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize for her compelling reporting on conflict and disaster in the Philippines.

The award recognizes exceptional journalism in dangerous or difficult conditions, and Evangelista produced an impressive body of work on two of the Southeast Asian nation’s most brutal events of 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda and the bloody Zamboanga siege. – Rappler.com