The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is pleased to announce the first 2026-27 recipients of the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, marking the inaugural year of this prestigious program. The Fellows are Daniel Idfresne, who will be working with The Boston Globe Opinion and Ashley Dowdney ’24, ’25, who will be working with The Washington Post Opinion.
These young journalists will spend nine to 12 months working alongside top writers, reporters and media professionals at leading news outlets. The Fellowship is designed to develop writers who can engage complex issues thoughtfully, challenge prevailing orthodoxies when warranted and contribute original, well-reasoned reporting and opinion perspectives to the national conversation.
Daniel Idfresne recently graduated from Syracuse University and is from Brooklyn, New York. He is a senior contributor at Young Voices, where he writes on politics, public policy and culture. His work has appeared in RealClearPolitics, Newsweek, Reason, the Washington Examiner and the New York Post. In addition to his writing, he has appeared as a political commentator on Fox News and Newsmax.
Ashley Dowdney recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she double majored in classics and peace, war and defense. She is an alumna of TFAS Academic Internship Program on the International Affairs track and a Campus Transparency Fellow. Previously, she interned at the Hudson Institute and the American Enterprise Institute. On campus, Dowdney founded UNC’s Alexander Hamilton Society chapter, held fellowships in the School of Civic Life and Leadership, served as a senator in the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies and received a Chancellor’s Award in Ancient Greek translation. This summer, she will intern at The Dispatch and participate in Hertog War Studies.
“The Journalism Excellence Fellows will have an opportunity to engage in national debates and conversations at the highest level,” said Director of the Center for Excellence in Journalism Ryan Wolfe. “These roles will allow fellows to launch their careers at publications that shape how Americans understand the most important issues of our time, under the mentorship of editors and writers operating at the very top of the field.”
Idfresne and Dowdney will participate in TFAS educational and professional programs alongside other participants of TFAS’s Center for Excellence in Journalism programs, including the Rago, Novak and Media Accelerator Fellows. Fellows will be part of a network that includes some of the nation’s leading writers, reporters and editors and will receive high-level training in reporting and writing at prestigious news publications early in their careers.