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EJC launches special funding round for European media

Press release
The European Journalism Centre
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23rd, 2015


The European Journalism Centre (EJC) launches a special call for funding proposals within its Innovation in Development Reporting (IDR) Grant Programme.

The IDR Special Edition is aimed at publishers, major news outlets, and high impact online publishing houses from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and is looking to support coverage of selected United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a regular rhythm over the course of one year.

The coverage shall take the format of a dedicated microsite, or a dedicated website sub-page.

The IDR Special Edition will support innovative and experimental storytelling approaches. Over the course of one year, in-depth articles, reportages, op-eds, videos, graphics, and multimedia pieces should tackle issues of overarching SDG-related concern and specifics on the respective country’s SDG-related activities and its relations with aid recipient countries.

Publishing houses may apply for a grant of up to €150.000 for one year. Between three to five grants will be awarded in the period 2015-2016.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 2 November 2015 (18:00 CET).

All funded projects have to be freely accessible to a national or global online audience without any access barriers such as pay walls or registration. The publishers may retain copyright, although publication under a Creative Commons License is encouraged, in order to allow for global and free access.

The grant allows for full editorial independence and the EJC shall not exert any influence on the editorial decision-making of the media outlets.

To be considered, media houses will need to submit a formal funding proposal including a short editorial concept, an explanation of how the special edition will be tied in with the main publication and portal, and a detailed budget.

Detailed proposal guidelines can be found here.

For any questions or to submit a proposal, contact Wilfried Ruetten, EJC Director, via [email protected]

Nota bene: The IDR Special Edition will run in parallel to the IDR regular call for applications, which will close on 2 March 2016 (22:00 CET).

Note for editors:

The Innovation in Development Reporting Grant Programme was launched in January 2013 by the EJC with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project aims to reward quality journalism and advance a new and distinctive agenda for development coverage through awarding funding to a selection of state-of-the-art reporting projects of great impact and high visibility. Since 2013, the programme has granted funding to 67 projects.

The IDR Grant Programme has received $1,785,000 for the period of 2015 and 2016 that will be awarded to innovative journalistic projects centered on global development topics. In 2016, the programme will again run two rounds of applications and organise two boot camp style trainings tailor-made for the winners of each round.

The European Journalism Centre (EJC) is a non-profit international foundation with the remit to improve, strengthen, and underpin journalism and the news media. This mission has two main aspects: On the one hand, it is about safeguarding, enhancing, and future-proofing quality journalism in Europe and on the other hand, it is about supporting initiatives towards press freedom in emerging and developing countries. This often includes creating the framework conditions for independent and self-determined journalism in the first place. To these ends, the EJC provides thematic training, professional capacity development, and a wide range of support activities for journalists.

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