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Become a Nanak Media Fellow, it is free.
However, a small contribution shall be appreciated.
Apply for Nanak Media Fellowship via Google Form here
Who Should Apply?
You should consider applying if you have ever thought:
“Something important is happening here, but nobody is reporting it.”
Perhaps your community is experiencing problems in education, employment, agriculture, the environment, infrastructure, local government, culture, youth, public services, or social issues.
Perhaps you simply want to learn how to use your Smartphone to tell people’s stories.
That is exactly the kind of curiosity we are looking for.
How to Apply for the Nanak Media Fellowship
The application is completed online.
You will not be asked to provide your complete residential/physical address initially. For basic geographic identification, we primarily ask for your state and district.
Step 1 — Check your eligibility
Before applying, make sure that initially:
- you are 18 or older;
- you have regular Smartphone access;
- you can access the internet;
- you are willing to learn online; and
- You are prepared to adhere to responsible journalism standards.
Step 2 — Complete the online application
The application asks about:
- Personal information
- State and district
- Languages
- Smartphone and internet access
- Computer skills
- Media and journalism experience
- Community interests
- Social-media presence
- Video, editing, subtitling, dubbing, and voice-over skills
- Online learning availability
- Journalistic judgment
- Safety and privacy
- Additional skills and volunteering
- Your motivation for joining NMF
Step 3 — Tell us about your community
We want to know what you think deserves greater public attention.
You may be asked to identify three issues in your district that you believe receive insufficient media attention and describe one story that you think should be reported.
Step 4 — Tell us what you can already do
Don’t worry if you have limited technical skills.
Tell us honestly whether you can:
- record video;
- edit video;
- livestream;
- photograph events;
- interview people;
- write scripts;
- translate;
- subtitle;
- dub;
- provide voice-over;
- manage social media; or
- use AI-assisted media tools.
You don’t have to know everything. You have to be willing to learn.
Step 5 — Demonstrate your journalistic judgment
The application includes practical questions—for example, what you would do if someone sent you an unverified WhatsApp video claiming that a serious incident had occurred.
These questions are not academic examinations.
They are intended to understand whether you appreciate the importance of:
verification → evidence → fairness → correction → responsible publication.
Step 6 — Submit the application
After submitting your application, you should receive a confirmation.
Submission does not automatically guarantee selection.
Depending on the fellowship’s requirements, shortlisted applicants may subsequently be invited for:
- application review;
- online orientation or interview;
- basic Smartphone/media assessment;
- fellowship admission;
- online training;
- practical reporting assignments; and
- final assessment/certification and applicable Press ID eligibility.
What We Are Looking For
We are not primarily looking for:
degrees, impressive résumés, or large follower counts.
We are looking for people who are:
Curious.
Observant.
Connected to their communities.
Willing to learn.
Comfortable using a smartphone—or willing to become so.
Interested in listening to people.
Committed to accuracy.
Willing to verify information.
Prepared to accept the responsibilities of citizen journalism.
The Nanak Media Fellowship is ultimately about transforming ordinary citizens from passive consumers of information into active producers of responsible public knowledge.
Your phone can be your camera.
Your community can be your newsroom.
Your language can become a bridge between communities.
Your reporting can become part of India’s public record.
Google Forms Master Application
I have compiled the complete application form as an editable Word document that you can use as the master copy while creating the actual Google Form.
Download the Nanak Media Fellowship Google Forms Master Application
It includes the full structure, question types, required/optional status, eligibility questions, social media fields, equipment questions, language section, journalistic judgment scenarios, safety questions, volunteering section, and applicant declaration.
Who Can Apply for the Nanak Media Fellowship?
The Nanak Media Fellowship (NMF) is open to anyone who wants to learn citizen journalism and help document the events, experiences and issues affecting their community.
You do not need to be a professional journalist.
You do not need a university degree.
You do not need previous media experience.
What matters most is your curiosity, willingness to learn, community awareness, ability to use a Smartphone, and commitment to responsible journalism.
Basic eligibility
You can apply if:
- You are 18 years of age or older.
- You have regular access to a Smartphone capable of recording video, taking photographs, and accessing the internet.
- You are willing to participate in online training.
- You are willing to learn Smartphone journalism, video production, livestreaming, and digital publishing.
- You are interested in the issues affecting your community.
- You are willing to verify information before publishing it.
- You agree to follow Nanak Media’s standards concerning accuracy, fairness, privacy, safety and responsible reporting.
Your educational background does not matter.
The fellowship is deliberately designed to be accessible to people from different educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.
You may be a:
- student;
- farmer;
- worker;
- shopkeeper;
- homemaker;
- professional;
- community volunteer;
- photographer;
- YouTuber;
- blogger;
- social-media creator;
- activist;
- local storyteller; or
- someone who has never worked in media before.
A degree is not a substitute for curiosity, and a lack of formal education is not a barrier to becoming a responsible citizen journalist.
Your Smartphone is your first newsroom.
You do not need an expensive professional camera.
A reasonably capable Smartphone can become your:
camera + audio recorder + editing device + newsroom + broadcasting station.
You should be willing to learn how to use it for:
- video recording;
- photography;
- interviews;
- livestreaming;
- video editing;
- captions and subtitles;
- voice-over;
- dubbing;
- social-media publishing; and
- AI-assisted media production.
Language skills are valuable.
Nanak Media is intended to operate across India’s linguistic diversity.
We particularly welcome people who can speak, read, or write Indian languages and report events in the language used by their communities.
Skills in:
- translation;
- proofreading;
- subtitling;
- dubbing; and
- voice-over
are especially valuable.
Your community matters more than your follower count.
You do not need thousands of followers to apply.
Someone with 100 followers who knows their community well may have greater potential as a citizen journalist than someone with 100,000 followers who has little connection with local issues.
We want people who can answer:
“What is happening in my community that people outside it need to know about?”