The Guardian has announced Cris Seda Chabrier and Austin “Auzzy” Byrdsell as its 2026 Scott Trust fellows. Over the next year, they will embed with various teams and desks across the Guardian’s US newsroom, including audience, visuals, politics, environment, and lifestyle, gaining multiplatform reporting experience, training, and mentorship from the Guardian’s veteran global staff.
A Fellowship Rooted in Restorative Justice
The paid fellowship was established as part of the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement program, the Guardian’s 10-year restorative justice initiative responding to its founders’ historical ties to transatlantic slavery. Funded by the Scott Trust, the fellowship supports emerging journalists from underrepresented backgrounds, aiming to ensure the Guardian’s newsroom better reflects the communities it serves. It expands the UK-based Scott Trust Bursary scheme and is a core pillar of the Guardian Foundation’s work to create pathways into journalism for new and diverse talent.
Meet the 2026 Fellows
Cris Seda Chabrier is a bilingual investigative reporter and photojournalist. They graduated in 2024 from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY’s bilingual journalism program. Previously, Chabrier was a reporting fellow with the Tucson Sentinel, focusing largely on immigration. Their work has also appeared in Politico, Mada Masr, New York City News Service, Metro, and Verite News. Chabrier graduated summa cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, and received academic fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania and Williams College.
Austin “Auzzy” Byrdsell is an alum of Morehouse College. For the last two years, he was part of the Boston Globe’s Development Fellowship, rotating across departments to cover major stories, including the cannabis industry in Massachusetts, Boston’s Haitian immigration housing crisis, and the Boston Celtics’ 2024 championship. He has interned at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporting on breaking news, local government, and higher education, and has done editorial work for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, and Capital B Atlanta. At Morehouse, Byrdsell served as editor-in-chief of the Maroon Tiger and founded the Morehouse College Association of Black Journalists. He is originally from Atlanta and has lived in Germany, Thailand, and South Korea.
Mentorship and Impact
Dana Canedy, US managing editor of the Guardian, said: “Investing in emerging talent is at the heart of the Guardian’s mission and essential for our success. We couldn’t be happier to welcome Cris Seda Chabrier and Austin “Auzzy” Byrdsell as our 2026 Scott Trust fellows. Both Cris and Auzzy bring a sharp reporting lens and a deep commitment to community-driven stories. We look forward to working alongside them – providing the mentorship and training to help elevate the next stage of their already bright careers.”
Chabrier and Byrdsell represent the second Scott Trust fellowship cohort, following inaugural fellows Briana Ellis-Gibbs and Marina Dunbar, both of whom have since been hired full-time by the Guardian’s New York newsroom.
