Briefly
Program description
The program supports cross-border teams of professional journalists and/or media outlets investigating illegal, undisclosed and unregulated environmental issues related to European interests, both in Europe and beyond.
Supported investigations must be published in at least two media outlets based in different countries, with at least one being a European media outlet aimed at a European audience.
In addition to investigations of environmental issues that cross borders, this program can also support and encourage investigations that compare local environmental issues and policies between two or more locations.
Your proposal must contain a hypothesis and proposed methodology for journalistic investigation, as well as a detailed budget.
Main Information
Eligibility
Cross-border teams of at least two journalists and/or media agencies can submit a proposal for journalistic investigation on an environmental issue – environmental protection, destruction, biodiversity, impact of climate change on nature, etc.
Funding can only be received by applicants who legally reside/are registered in at least two different countries.
Candidates must be professional journalists or registered media companies.
Personal recommendations and/or references to previous work are mandatory.
Media companies must be legal entities officially registered at least 12 months before the application deadline.
Financing
The grant can finance:
- direct investigation costs, such as travel, visa, accommodation, translation, consultant services, access to paid databases, freedom of information (FOI) requests, legal review, insurance.
- costs covering team members' participation in trainings and conferences, to acquire or strengthen skills necessary for research, and/or for meetings with experts and colleagues to discuss their supported research.
- costs for tools necessary for investigation (e.g., datasets, satellite images, but NOT hardware).
- costs for (post)production, such as editing and visual editing, sound design and graphics, website creation or color correction, can be reimbursed up to 1000 euros.
The grant does NOT cover:
- overhead costs (administration, coordinators, managers, financial directors, etc.);
- material investments: such goods as IT equipment, mobile phones, cameras or other types of equipment
- food and beverages;
- per diems.
Supported Activities
The investigation proposal must relate to cross-border journalistic investigative activity on environmental issues in Europe or beyond. This means that the investigation should (also) be relevant to Europe.
In addition to research on environmental issues that cross borders, this grant can also support comparative studies of local environmental issues and policies between two or more countries, regions or cities.
The investigation result must be published by at least two professional news outlets in at least two different countries, one of which must be in Europe. Letters of intent for publication from at least two professional news outlets are required.
Journalistic investigations published by professional media in any form are eligible, whether print, online, broadcast or cross-media. Your investigation can be published as newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television documentaries and series, photo reports and books, podcasts and journalistic documentary books.
How to Apply
On the Journalismfund Grants website.
Evaluation Criteria
The jury evaluates applications based on the following criteria:
- The investigation focuses on an environmental issue (underestimated/significant scale/with new consequences or data is available on this topic);
- How innovative the proposed topic or angle is;
- The strength of investigative aspects and components;
- How plausible the confirmation of investigation hypotheses is using the proposed methodology;
- Whether the results will have added value compared to media coverage;
- How realistic conducting the investigation in the proposed form is;
- Applicants' experience (including place of residence and work, languages they speak, topics they have worked on before);
- How strong the cross-border aspect is;
- Network interaction between countries, pooling research capabilities and knowledge;
- Whether this investigation promotes journalism's watchdog function over institutions, policies, finances;
- How clearly the team defines its audience and whether a good engagement strategy is proposed;
- Quality and rationality of budget;
- Reasonable travel expenses (we advise avoiding unnecessary flights and travel in general);
- Need for co-financing.
Finally, the jury will also consider diversity in selecting projects to receive funding in this round. This means the jury will strive for diversity among selected projects by criteria such as:
- region (both regarding stories and team members);
- topics;
- methods and approaches;
- publication forms;
- team composition.
FAQ
You need a good idea for an investigation, a cross-border team of at least two journalists or news agencies, and at least two letters of intent from professional news agencies willing to publish the results of your investigation.
No. You need to collaborate with at least one team member from another country.
Use the tips at https://www.journalismfund.eu/news/how-find-teammate.
No. The result of your journalistic investigation can be published by professional media in any language. However, you must submit a complete project application in English. English is the common language of the international jury, and all jury members must be able to evaluate all applications equally.
The investigation should focus on a cross-border environmental issue that has a close connection to Europe. This means the investigation can also cover issues and places outside Europe if there is a connection with European companies, banks, politicians, etc.
Amounts vary for each project and depend on the duration of the investigation, number of team members and necessary expenses.
We recommend starting with a compelling project plan for conducting your investigation, and only then compiling a realistic budget to finance this plan. The quality and realism of the submitted budget is one of the evaluation criteria by which the jury will approve the project. Therefore, inflating the budget is not advisable.
In practice, grants can range from, for example, 2000 euros for smaller investigations to 20,000 euros or even more for very large investigations that involve newsrooms in many countries, require a lot of research and expenses, data access, legal review, etc., and result in a large series of publications.
It is also important to consider that sometimes team members live in countries with very different income levels.
One team member can start working on the application through the online application form on the platform https://grants.journalismfund.eu/en/register/environmental_journalism.
Then they can invite several people to collaborate on the draft application. The online application in progress can be saved at any time. The team can consist of two types of participants:
- Independent journalists;
- Media outlets (legal entities).
If the project is granted, the grant funds will be distributed among different participants (i.e., freelance journalists and/or media outlets) according to the submitted budget.
You can publish parts or all of your investigation on your own platform or blog. However, for the grant application you must provide at least two letters of intent for publication from professional media outlets registered in two different countries, which will be independent of your own platform.