TFAS announces recipient of 2026-27 Journalism Excellence Fellowship at The Dispatch

Mark Sawyer

The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is pleased to announce two-time TFAS alumnus Mark Sawyer ’24, ’24, as the recipient of the inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowship at The Dispatch.

Through the TFAS Journalism Excellence Fellowship, Sawyer will work with leading writers, reporters and media professionals at The Dispatch. The Fellowship is designed to give rising young journalists the opportunity to undertake important work and receive high-level training in reporting at prestigious news publications early in their careers.

Sawyer recently worked as an open-source investigator and intelligence analyst covering Eastern Europe, Africa and the United States. He has investigated coordinated Russian influence campaigns, online narratives affecting public trust in election integrity and threats against election officials. Previously, he designed and managed taxpayer-funded programs to support democracy in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. Sawyer participated in Humanities DC’s Community Journalism Program and is a graduate of Wheaton College.

Sawyer joins The Dispatch in September and will participate in the Journalism Excellence Fellowship alongside Daniel Idfresne, who will work with The Boston Globe Opinion, and Ashley Dowdney ’24, ’25, who will work with The Washington Post Opinion.

Throughout the program, the Fellows will engage in TFAS’s educational and professional development opportunities alongside other participants of TFAS’s Center for Excellence in Journalism programs.

Ryan Wolfe, executive director of the TFAS Center for Excellence in Journalism, said the fellowship reflects a deliberate investment in journalism’s next generation.

“The Journalism Excellence Fellowship provides promising talent the ability to learn from top editors who prepare them to to do the hard work of investigative journalism,” Wolfe said. “The Fellowship will be a launching pad for journalists who will help restore the American people’s trust in the media.”

The new Fellowship builds on the success of the TFAS Center for Excellence in Journalism and its existing programs to advance the field of journalism, including the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism, in partnership with The Wall Street Journal; the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship; the Student Journalism Association; the Media Accelerator Fellowship; and the Campus Transparency Fellowship.

TFAS journalism programs equip young journalists with the skills, mentorship, and opportunities to raise the standard of American journalism. These programs are made possible by supporters grounded in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility and economic freedom. Support TFAS’s journalism programs today and help train the next generation of principled, skilled journalists.

The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is an educational nonprofit that hosts academic internship programs for undergraduate and law students in Washington, D.C., international academic programs in Europe and South America, programs for high school students and teachers, and fellowships for journalists and public policy professionals. For more information on TFAS programs, visit www.DCinternships.org, www.TFASinternational.org, or www.FTE.org. For general information about TFAS, visit www.TFAS.org.