Two U of A School of Journalism and Strategic Media students will spend the summer as data journalism interns, part of the Dow Jones News Fund program.

Cooper Gant and Sophia Nabours were among 81 students chosen out of more than 1,000 applicants for the program, which includes training and paid internships.

"This is an elite program for the best university journalists in the country. Just 11 students, including Cooper and Sophia, were selected from Southeastern Conference colleges. This training will help prepare them for successful journalism careers," said Bret Schulte, director of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.

Gant is a journalism-political science senior with a 4.0 GPA from Fort Worth, Texas, and is the incoming editor-in-chief of The Arkansas Traveler. Nabours is a junior from Searcy studying multimedia journalism-criminal justice. She also has maintained a 4.0 GPA and is the multimedia editor of The Arkansas Traveler and part of the Honors College.

"Cooper and Sophia are passionate about ethical and impactful reporting and have proven themselves as dedicated leaders," said Gina Shelton, internship coordinator in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. 

Both will study next month at the University of Maryland with Rob Wells, a former SJSM professor who now teaches at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism. The training, in partnership with Investigative Reporters & Editors, will focus on obtaining and analyzing data and employing computer-assisted reporting methods.

The data journalism cohort includes students from Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Syracuse and the University of London.

After the June training, Gant and Nabours begin internships that run until August. Gant will intern in Little Rock for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, one of the last statewide newspapers in America. Nabours will work in New York for The Marshall Project, a news organization focused on criminal justice.

"The way The Marshall Project tackles crime and the criminal justice system from a sociological perspective instead of sensationalizing the very real individuals affected by the system is what makes the nonprofit news organization so special. I'm so humbled to be able to learn from the experts at The Marshall Project, and I can't wait to bring back all the knowledge with me to the University of Arkansas," Nabours said.

The Dow Jones News Fund, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is a nonprofit foundation that promotes careers in journalism in the digital age. To be selected for Dow Jones News Fund, students are tested on editing skills, business reporting, current events and data abilities, among other things.

The School of Journalism and Strategic Media has a long history of selections in the program. Last year, Rachell Sanchez-Smith of Rogers was one of 87 participants. After graduating in December, she began a competitive fellowship at WBUR, the NPR affiliate in Boston.

"The journalism school has poured so much into me from the minute I stepped on campus. My selection is truly a reflection of the culture of the school," Gant said. "Interning at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette isn't just work for me. It's a chance to connect with all the great things in Arkansas, a place that has become my new home, and to work at a newspaper known for high quality journalism."