Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism announced its 68th class of U.S. Nieman Fellows on Wednesday, 12 journalists who will spend the 2005-2006 academic year studying at Harvard as part of the world’s oldest mid-career fellowship for journalists.

This year’s class includes a Baghdad correspondent for the New York Times, an independent documentary filmmaker based in Mass., and the London bureau chief for the Boston Globe.

Each year, the Nieman Foundation selects working journalists “of accomplishment and promise for an academic year of study in any part of the university,” according to a press release issued Wednesday. The Fellows each receive a $55,000 stipend, as well as a housing allowance.

According to Nieman Foundation Curator Bob Giles­—who was himself a Nieman Fellow in 1966­—auditing classes is the focus of the Fellows’ activities at Harvard.

“When they apply, part of their proposal is how they would spend the year at Harvard and why their proposal for study has a direct link to what they’re covering as a journalist,” he said. Giles noted that past Fellows have taken classes at Harvard College, Harvard’s Law, Business, and Divinity Schools, and the Kennedy School of Government.

Though there is no research component to the fellowship, Fellows are expected to complete all the course requirements for one class each term.

Giles said that Fellows’ time at Harvard often leads to larger projects. “Some of them, during the course of the year, will get an idea for a book and will begin to work on it, but not at the expense of their class obligations,” he said.

In addition to taking classes, Nieman Fellows are expected to contribute to the Harvard community, though they are not formally required to do so.

“We tell them in the beginning that they’re going to take a lot away from Harvard and we hope during the year that they have the opportunity to give something back,” Giles said. Past Fellows have given lectures, participated in panels, and offered feedback to student publications.

According to Giles, the 2005-2006 Fellows were selected from a pool of 111 applicants. He said that, of the group, “a good 65 to 70 percent are people who you could see being a Nieman Fellow.”

During the last weekend in April, 29 finalists were interviewed by a five-person selection committee, chaired by Giles. “They come to Cambridge and each candidate spends 30 minutes with us and after the interviews are over we choose the 12 fellows,” Giles said.

“It is very competitive,” he added.

Nancy San Martin, a world reporter for the Miami Herald who was selected as a 2005-2006 Nieman Fellow, said yesterday that her selection came as a surprise.

“I know how stiff the competition is and I respect my colleagues very much. It was a relief and somewhat of a surprise to be selected,” she said.

San Martin, who said that she has been working since she was a teenager, saw the fellowship as a unique chance to focus on learning in the middle of a busy career.