Three young journalists have been named as recipients of the first Judith Neilson Institute Opportunity Fellowships.

They are Zathia Bazeer, a Melbourne-based journalism student at Macleay College, Tricia Rivera who studied journalism and human rights at Monash University and later for three years in Bangkok, and Rafqa Touma, a law/journalism student at UTS who previously interned at The Guardian as recipient of the Adele Horin Prize and studied with the School of The New York Times.

The Opportunity Fellowships aim to give talented early-career journalists and individuals the chance to develop their journalism careers. Director of education, Andrea Ho said recipients will get to work in some of Australia’s biggest newsrooms. “JNI is glad to join with Walkley Foundation to make it possible for these three emerging journalists to spend an extended time working in well-established newsrooms in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane respectively,” she said.

“They’ll have the chance not only to learn the ropes and publish work, but to make contacts and connections to help move their careers forward.

“For the newsrooms, it brings exciting new voices with different community knowledge and perspectives onto their floor, so everyone wins.”

Pictured: Rafqa Touma, Zathia Bazeer and Tricia Rivera with their awards. (Image: Walkley Foundation)