The Nieman fellowships are the best-known of their type in the country.  Each year, 24 of the best and brightest journalists spend an academic year of study at Harvard.  Since 1985, Knight Foundation has helped support 16 Knight Latin American fellows.  Rosental Alves, the Knight Chair in International Journalism who directs the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas-Austin, was a 1988 Nieman fellow.  During the next two years, four leading Latin American journalists will spend nine months at Harvard, attending seminars and activities, designing their own course of study and writing an article about their experience for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas web site.  Upon returning to their countries, they plan to advocate for higher standards in their news organizations, influence broader press freedoms and teach and train others. A two-year, $140,000 grant was added to support two more Nieman fellows during 2007-08.