Stanford
Communication Department

Steve Steinberg Reporting Award

The Steve Steinberg Reporting Award gives Stanford University students the opportunity to spend a summer working on a long-form narrative reporting project with guidance from a journalism faculty member. 

Awardees will receive a stipend of $8,400, and an additional supplement of up to $6,600 is available for reporting expenses. 

Background on the award

The Steve Steinberg Reporting Award honors the memory of Steve Steinberg, a former editor at Wired magazine and columnist for the Los Angeles Times who later became a stock analyst focused on technology companies at Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. Steinberg, who died in 2020 at age 50 in a biking accident, was “A brilliant mind, a hacker at heart, a gifted writer, and a generous spirit,” as described in his obituary. 

What we’re looking for from applicants

A story idea of local, regional, national, or global import that tells us something about the world that we don’t know — one that requires deep, expansive, on-the-ground reporting and is best told in a long-form narrative. Among the goals are to broaden knowledge, inspire creativity and, ideally, spur action. The project should aspire to what Steinberg wrote in 2008 of the best writing: “It’s so provocative it forces me to reconsider everything before I can continue.” 

Eligibility

Any Stanford undergraduate or MA student is eligible to apply. This award may not be combined with other Stanford summer funding. 

How to apply

Application will include:

  • A statement of not more than 300 words that explains your story idea and reporting strategy, why you are proposing to do it now, and why the work is relevant and compelling
  • A budget estimate for expenses and a justification for each budget item. Costs could include housing for the summer, transportation, use of a translator, and expenses related to obtaining public records. Your budget for expenses may not exceed $6,600.
  • Two samples of your journalistic work
  • Stanford transcript
  • Resume
  • If University policies about award funding change and include travel restrictions, describe in one paragraph whether a version of the project could be done from your place of residence   

Finalists will be required to submit a more detailed reporting plan and references may be requested at that time.

The application portal will reopen spring 2026, date TBA. 

Steve Steinberg Reporting Award Application

For questions concerning the suitability of your proposed project, please contact journalism faculty member Janine Zacharia (zacharia@stanford.edu).

For all other questions, please contact Sarah Wert (wert@stanford.edu)

Stipends at Stanford University are issued as a means of support to defray expenses while students pursue extracurricular activities to enhance their education. Stipends are not given as payment in return for hours worked. 

2025 Winners

Anastasia Sotiropoulos

Veteran suicide remains an urgent national crisis, yet some of the most effective, peer-led recovery programs continue to be underfunded and overlooked. My investigation will spotlight these “mission-therapy” initiatives—like the Veteran Surf Alliance in Santa Cruz, which uses high-adrenaline night surfing to treat PTSD, and Force Blue in South Carolina, where veterans restore coral reefs while regaining purpose and camaraderie. These veteran-led programs use water, movement, and community to create healing where conventional treatments often fall short.

As the Department of Veterans Affairs faces sweeping cuts this summer, slashing PTSD research and 1 in 5 jobs, this long-form narrative will put a human face on a growing policy crisis. Through immersive fieldwork, data analysis, and in-depth interviews, I’ll examine the impact of these cuts while exploring why alternative therapies resonate so deeply in military culture. It’s an honor to pursue this project at a time when understanding and investing in peer-led solutions is more critical than ever.

Arundathi Nair

Our second-most used natural resource as humans is one you might not expect but regardless of where you are currently, it is likely all around you. Every day, we wake up in buildings constructed with concrete. We travel on roads that are made of asphalt. We look through windows, stare at screens, and communicate using pocket-sized devices that all require sand to function. In every possible way, sand is an integral part of our everyday life—but what if I told you it’s something we’re desperately running out of? The fight over the resource has caused massive amounts of environmental devastation, the rise of the sand mafia in India, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths, and a cement industry that contributes to 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Through the Steve Steinberg Award, I’ll be traveling to Canada and India to report on the impact and implications of sand mining on local communities and how we can reckon with our growing hunger for the resource on a global scale.