Paid a living wage across the period, each writer spent four weeks at each of the partnering publications—working across a range of forms including essays, criticism, opinion and feature-writing—and spent the final three weeks pitching and developing a final feature to one of the publications they have worked with.

Writers were mentored by acclaimed journalist Donna Chisholm, as well as being paired with a secondary mentor in the industry. They also participated in weekly workshops and monthly masterclasses, focused on developing the skills essential to excellent journalism and compelling storytelling. These monthly masterclasses were also open to all freelance journalists in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Programme design and delivery was led by Rosabel Tan with Donna Chisholm.

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