The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is is looking for two candidates for £50,000 Journalist Fellowship bursaries.

The scheme enables experienced journalists to take time out from their pressurised and deadline-driven schedules - to write a book about social policy.

Proposals are being invited from print, web and broadcast journalists working for national, specialist and regional media outlets, including on a freelance basis.

The JRF Journalist Fellowships are awarded every two years and have given rise to a series of successful and authoritative books.

Writers already awarded bursaries include Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Madeleine Bunting, Polly Ghazi, Jeremy Laurence, Nicholas Schoon, Christian Wolmar and, most recently, Richard Tomlinson.

Outline book proposals are expected to reflect one or more of the themes that are of greatest concern to the Foundation, which is one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the UK.

Its core interests are in poverty and place but the JRF is also currently supporting work on social care, immigration and inclusion, parenting, alcohol and independent living.

Fellowships can be used to cover full-time work on a book for a year, or on a part-time basis for up to two years. The successful applicants are normally expected to find their own commercial publisher.

The closing date for applications is September 24. Interviews with a selection panel including established journalists will take place in London on October 16.