• - July 27, 2023
  • Partially Funded
  • Europe

This grant programme supports cross-border teams of professional journalists and/or news outlets to conduct investigations into environmental affairs related to continental Europe. This is part of a larger programme: The Earth Investigations Programme supported by Arcadia.

While news media and newsrooms still predominantly operate nationally, most power structures and societal and environmental problems transcend national boundaries. This grant programme is therefore aimed at cross-border teams of investigative journalists and newsrooms to investigate and document illegal, unreported and unregulated abuse of nature that involves European affairs in and outside Europe.

Next to investigations of environmental issues that transcend borders, this programme can also support and stimulate comparative investigations into local environmental issues and policies between two or more regions or cities.
The grants can also offer support to preliminary work in the development of new investigative projects.

The grant can cover working time and expenses such as logistics, travel, insurance, access to legal support, translations, access to technology and data sets, etc.

Next to financial support, teams can also apply for an experienced mentor to provide assistance with either the focus of the investigation or the need for competences in a specific skill.

Successful applicants in need of support for a specific aspect of their investigation have the option to request a mentor. Journalismfund Europe, in consultation with the team, assigns a mentor from their pool of experienced investigative journalists from various continents. The selection of mentors is based on the investigation’s focus or the need for specific competencies or skills, such as cross-border collaboration, source identification, research methods, storytelling, dissemination, or project management.

Mentors provide advice, share knowledge, and serve as a sounding board for the applicants. However, they do not fully participate in the investigation process. Each project is allocated a maximum of four mentoring days.

Journalismfund Europe covers the payment of mentors, and applicants do not need to include the mentor’s fees in their budget proposal.

Regarding the application process, there are 20 application rounds scheduled for this grant program over a span of six years. To stay informed about the latest grant opportunities, applicants are encouraged to subscribe to Journalismfund Europe’s newsletter.

After the application deadline, Journalismfund Europe reviews the applications for formalities and may request additional information from the applicants, which typically takes about one week.

The applications then proceed to the jury for assessment. Applicants are usually notified of the jury’s decision approximately 40 days after the application deadline.

Location:

Europe

Benefits

  • The total available amount per call to be distributed among all supported investigations will be around €400.000.
  • But in the next round, they have a budget of €800.000 available.

Eligibilities

  • Cross-border teams of at least two journalists and news outlets can submit a proposal for a journalistic investigation about an issue that concerns the environment. Only applicants who are legally residing in at least two different countries are permitted to receive funding.
  • The applicants must be professional freelance journalists or news outlets. Personal references and/or references to earlier work are essential in that respect.
  • News outlets must be legal entities officially incorporated at least one year before the application deadline of the grant call.
  • The investigation proposal must concern cross-border environmental investigative journalism on Europe affairs, in or outside Europe. This means that the investigation has (also) to be of relevance to Europe.
  • Next to investigations into environmental issues that transcend borders, this grant can also support e.g. comparative investigations into local environmental issues and policies between two or more countries, regions, cities, etc.
  • At least two professional news outlets must publish the result of the investigation in at least two different countries (one in Europe). Letters of intent for publication from at least two professional news outlets are required.
  • Investigative journalism published by professional media in any form is eligible, whether print, online, broadcast, or cross-media. All journalistic end products qualify for a grant: newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television documentaries and series, photo-reportages and books, podcasts, and journalistic non-fiction books.
Eligible Regions: European Countries

Application Process

Before you start, please consult the grant details, where you can find the rules, eligibility, assessment criteria, timing, etc.

You can access their online application form after a one-time registration with your email address. You can freely navigate the form to see which information you need to provide in your application. This includes:

  • Team members’ details.
  • Information about the intended investigation.
  • Information about the intended publication channels, including letters of intent from news outlets.
  • A detailed budget, according to their budget template.
  • One team member can start a draft application. He or she can then invite multiple people to collaborate on the online draft. The online application-in-progress can be saved and further edited at any time.

Application Deadline: July 27, 2023

Application ClosedOfficial link

For Further Queries

For any queries contract through phone or mail, Investigation Grants for Environmental Journalism [email protected] +32 2 304 75 13
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