Newspapermen who have left their peace-time jobs for war service will be eligible for Nieman Fellowships in journalism this year, the Nieman Foundation announced yesterday.

This action was taken to permit qualified newspapermen, leaving the armed forces, to apply for a year of study with-out first re-establishing themselves in newspaper work. This will enable competent journalists to have a year at College between their discharge from the service and their resumption of writing.

Women Also Eligible

By a vote earlier this spring, the Corporation made women eligible for the award. It has now further amended requirements to permit consideration of self-employed journalists who meet the standards which hiterto have governed the selection of Fellows.

Nieman Fellowships are awarded annually, usually 12 in number, to journalists of three years' experience. A Fellowship entitles the holder to a college year of study in a program of his own choosing. Eighty-seven newspapermen have gained the distinction since the Fellowship was established in 1938 by the bequest of Agnes Wahl Nieman.

The Foundation does not intend any radical changes in the normal requirement for the Fellowship that the candidate be a member of the working press who can secure a leave of absence for a term of study. The new rules are solely to make it possible for those newspapermen now in war service and the occasionally self-employed journalist to be considered.

The Fellowship is designed to "promote and elevate the standards of journalism in the United States and educate persons deemed especially qualified for journalism."