Participants selected for the inaugural The Jewish Independent Fellowship program

The The Jewish Independent Fellowship for young journalists was launched over the weekend, with the six participants convening for their first meeting of the four-month program

UNDER THE GUIDANCE of program director Gary Samowitz, the six Fellows selected for the inaugural The Jewish Independent Fellowship “met” each other virtually in their first meeting on Sunday night.

This year’s Fellows are Yaffa Bart, 24, Hannah Blount, 22, Kea Cranko, 23, Daniel Etzion, 23, Harrison Rosen, 24 and Joey (Josef) Wilkinson, 24 (see brief CVs below).

After introductions and discussion of the program outline, held via Zoom due to the current lockdowns, guest speaker Sam Koslowski - founder of the popular news media site The Daily Aus - spoke to the group about innovation and risk in the modern media landscape.

Sam spoke about his journey of creating The Daily Aus with Zara Seidler and what they learnt along the way, and answered the Fellows’ questions about objectivity, monetisation and editorial decisions. The Daily Aus, which has over 200 thousand followers on Instagram has recently launched a daily podcast, and a daily newsletter. 

Gary Samowitz said the Fellowship seeks to “empower a new generation of articulate, passionate and skilled Jewish journalists by giving them the skills, networks, and support to create compelling content on issues that matter to them”.

Samowitz said the Fellowship will offer participants meetings with key stakeholders and experienced leaders on contemporary issues facing the Jewish community and Israel; individual mentors from the media industry; the opportunity to work across a range of mediums, including podcasts and video; and support and guidance from the The Jewish Independent editorial team.

He said how pleased he was “with the high calibre participants that we attracted for this inaugural program. Our first session was fantastic and I’m really looking forward to the next four months of workshops and content creation sessions. Sam was a brilliant speaker for our first session and the fellows loved hearing from him.”

THE 2021 PLUS61J FELLOWS

Yaffa Bart

Born and raised in Melbourne, Yaffa is completing a double degree in Science & Arts at Monash University. Yaffa’s passion for youth education and Judaism manifests in her role as Jewish Studies Curriculum Support Coordinator at Leibler Yavneh College, Youth Mentor at Spiritgrow and Youth Director at Blake Street Hebrew Congregation. Yaffa enjoys rewatching childhood TV shows and sharing her cooking fails on Instagram.

Hannah Blount

Hannah Blount is a philosophy honours student at the University of Melbourne, and an olah-in-waiting from Habonim Dror. Between writing her thesis on Martin Buber and thinking about the continuation of the socialist Zionist revolution, Hannah likes to train aerial circus and host sock-wrestling tournaments with her housemates.

Kea Cranko

Kea recently moved to Melbourne from Sydney to begin a Masters of Jewish Cultural Practice. As part of this degree she will be curating an exhibition that explores dissident and emergent expressions and conceptions of Jewish spirituality. She is interested in non-traditional, mixed media journalism to tell stories that speak to the plurality and diversity of our communities.

Daniel Etzion

Daniel Etzion lives in Canberra where he works as a graduate economist at the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. His Master’s thesis investigated Israel’s social security system. Before moving to Canberra, Daniel was a Team Manager of the Victorian Youth Congress, a research intern at the Pacific Forum International think tank, and a Victorian Parliamentary Intern. Daniel was a youth educator and Treasurer of Habonim Dror.

Harrison Rosen

Harrison recently completed his studies in law and media at the University of NSW. As a student he was very involved with AUJS, first as a Susan Wakil Fellow and then as a staff member. Through the Fellowship, Harrison co-founded Youth HEAR; an organisation dedicated to mitigating hate in society by connecting young adults with the memory of the Holocaust. Harrison now works for a law firm which specialises in plaintiff class actions.

Joey (Joesef) Wilkinson

Josef Wilkinson is studying a Bachelor of Laws and Arts, with passions in political science and Holocaust education. He was president of AUJS in 2019. Currently, Josef is the Advocacy and Communications Director at Zionism Victoria. He also serves as the Communications Director for the Jewish Library of Australia, and the Development Coordinator for Stars and the Moon, an all-abilities Jewish theatre company based in Melbourne.