The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard today announced the named fellowships for the Nieman class of 2018. These fellowships are supported by foundation grants and endowed funds that provide important financial assistance to journalists from the United States and abroad.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will support Sebastián Escalón as the 2018 Knight Latin American Nieman Fellow. A reporter who most recently covered environmental issues, resource extraction and human rights for the Guatemalan online magazine Plaza Pública, Escalón is citizen of both France and El Salvador and is the first Salvadoran to receive a Nieman Fellowship. Knight Foundation has funded more than 50 Nieman Fellowships for journalists from Latin America since 1981.

Emily Dreyfuss, a senior writer at Wired who explores the ways technology shapes society, is the 2018 Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellow in Journalism Innovation. The fellowship is a collaborative project supported by the Nieman Foundation and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard and is designed to generate new ideas to advance quality journalism in the digital age.

Two fellows have been named as Murrey Marder Nieman Fellows in Watchdog Journalism. The fellowship honors the memory of Murrey Marder, a longtime Washington Post reporter and 1950 Nieman Fellow who funded and helped found the Nieman Watchdog Project. The 2018 Marder Fellows are:

• Frederik Obermaier, an investigative reporter for the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s leading daily, and one of the leading reporters in the international Panama Papers investigation
• Maryclaire Dale, a legal affairs reporter for The Associated Press who has covered stories ranging from labor strikes in the West Virginia coalfields to a Caribbean murder trial to the sexual assault trials of Catholic priests and actor Bill Cosby

The Nieman Foundation has selected two Ruth Cowan Nash Nieman Fellows, who will receive partial funding for their fellowships. Nash was best known for her work as an Associated Press war correspondent during World War II. She also served as a president of the Washington Press Club. The 2018 Nash Fellows are:

• Lenka Kabrhelova, a U.S. correspondent for Czech Radio, the public radio broadcasting network in the Czech Republic
• María Ramírez, a Spanish reporter and entrepreneur who writes about U.S. politics for Univision and co-founded Politibot, a chatbot that delivers messages about political developments in Spain, the rest of Europe and the United States

João Pina a Portuguese photographer who has worked primarily in Latin America but also has covered human-rights stories and conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Mozambique, is the 2018 Anja Niedringhaus Nieman Fellow for Visual Journalism. The fellowship honors the memory of 2007 Nieman Fellow and AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus, who was shot and killed while on assignment in Afghanistan in the spring of 2014.

Christine Mungai, the Nairobi-based editor of Africapedia, a web publication that features data on key trends and major issues in the news in Africa, is the Barry Bingham Jr. Nieman Fellow. Bingham, a 1956 Harvard graduate, was the editor and publisher of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times.

Dustin Dwyer, a reporter for Michigan Radio who covers economics and work opportunities, is the Louis Stark Nieman Fellow. The fellowship honors the memory of the New York Times reporter who was a pioneer in the field of labor reporting.

Bonny Symons-Brown, who works in radio and TV news for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and was most recently the supervising producer of the political talk show “The Drum,” is the Atsuko Chiba Nieman Fellow. The Chiba fellowship honors the memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Nieman Fellow from Japan.

Shalini Singh, a New Delhi-based features reporter who has worked for the Indian newsmagazine The Week and the country’s leading daily, the Hindustan Times, is the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Fellow. Singh is also a founding member of the CounterMedia Trust and a regular contributor to the People’s Archive of Rural India. Ruhl, a 1903 Harvard graduate, was editor and publisher of the Medford Mail-Tribune in Oregon from 1911-1967.

Sipho Kings, the environment reporter for the Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg, is the Carroll Binder Nieman Fellow. Kings focuses on the ways human and industrial expansion affect vulnerable people and the environment and has covered topics ranging from the impact of climate change on droughts and coastal flooding to new safeguards for fragile ecosystems. Based in South Africa, he was born in Swaziland and is the first Nieman Fellow to come from that nation. The Binder Fund honors 1916 Harvard graduate Carroll Binder, who expanded the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service, and his son, Carroll “Ted” Binder, a 1943 Harvard graduate.

Mat Skene, the executive producer of Al Jazeera’s award-winning current affairs program “Fault Lines,” is the William Montalbano Nieman Fellow. Montalbano was a 1970 Nieman Fellow and a prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter who reported from 100 countries during his 38-year career.

Michael Petrou, a Canadian journalist and foreign correspondent who writes for OpenCanada, the National Post, iPolitics, CBC, The Walrus and other publications, is the Martin Wise Goodman Canadian Nieman Fellow, sponsored by the Martin Wise Goodman Trust. Goodman was a 1962 Nieman Fellow and president of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd.

Glenda Gloria, the managing editor and co-founder of Rappler, the leading social news network in the Philippines, is the 2018 Sandra Burton Nieman Fellow. Gloria’s time at Harvard is sponsored by the Sandra Burton Scholarship Fund for Filipino Journalists, which honors the memory of journalist Sandra Burton, a reporter who covered the Philippines for Time magazine.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard educates leaders in journalism and elevates the standards of the profession through special programs that convene scholars and experts in all fields. More than 1,500 journalists from 96 countries have been awarded Nieman Fellowships since 1938. The foundation’s other initiatives include Nieman Reports, a quarterly print and online magazine that covers thought leadership in journalism; Nieman Lab, a website that reports on the future of news, innovation and best practices in the digital media age; and Nieman Storyboard, a website that showcases exceptional narrative journalism and explores the future of nonfiction storytelling.