Money raised through the inaugural Paul Lowe Challenge is funding a new course for journalists from Myanmar.
The course begins on August 31, 2026, and runs for 13 weeks with 12 participants, all working journalists from Myanmar, for tuition-free training in reporting, research, photography, and video. This is a hybrid course, with online classes and an intensive, in-person week in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Maciek Nabrdalik, a contributing photographer to The VII Foundation and documentary filmmaker, leads the online weeks. Gary Knight, VII’s executive director and a photojournalist, writer, and producer, leads the week in Chiang Mai. Participants will also work with James Nachtwey, the conflict photographer known for his work with Time; Denis Gray, former Associated Press bureau chief in Bangkok; and Bertil Lintner, former Myanmar correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review. A dedicated strand taught by specialists from Agence France-Presse covers digital verification and fact-checking, skills that matter more than ever with generative AI reshaping how misinformation spreads.
This is exactly the kind of program the Paul Lowe Challenge exists to fund. Paul spent his career training photojournalists from the world’s most difficult contexts, from Sarajevo to Rwanda, and he believed access to serious training shouldn’t depend on where you were born or how much money you have. Every person who took part in the 2025 Challenge helped make a course like this possible.
If you want to help support tuition-free education like this, the next Paul Lowe Challenge takes place in September 2026. You can ride, run, swim, or set your own challenge, wherever you are.