Deadline: February 17, 2022
Applications are invited for the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Coastal Resilience Story Grants 2022. EJN is offering reporting grants to journalists worldwide to support the production of in-depth stories that will call attention to coastal resiliency and solutions for coastal issues.
Overview
Communities living in coastal regions face existential risks due to climate change. Currently, around 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of a coast, putting them on the frontlines of climate change’s worst impacts. By 2050, the world’s 136 largest coastal cities could face damages of between $1.6 to $3.2 trillion from sea level rise alone without adaptation. Even worse, many of them could be partially underwater. The latest IPCC report underscored what communities living on the edge between land and sea have long known: Without deep cuts to emissions, their prospects are “dismal.”
Yet, communities and policymakers in coastal areas lack access to information about solutions to build resilience to climate change. Media and other information providers in coastal areas need resources in order to communicate complicated climate change information about coastal issues effectively. Trusted, clear, timely and actionable information is needed to address vulnerabilities associated with climate change and to support building resilience.
To fill this gap, EJN is offering 15 story grants with support from the Kingfisher Foundation to journalists to cover coastal resilience in their communities. These journalists will receive support from journalist mentors and a coastal resilience expert to increase media coverage of this critical issue in their region.
Story Themes
They welcome any story ideas that will explore coastal resilience issues, including ecosystem rehabilitation, livelihood and food security, shelter and infrastructure, land use and development, managed retreat and more. They are particularly interested in cross-border collaborations and stories that explore similar efforts and shared solutions (including living shorelines, reef and island restoration and more) across regions.
Proposals that focus on topics or stories that have not been widely covered are preferred. Issues that have already received a lot of media coverage or don’t provide unique angles to environmental challenges are less likely to be selected.
Grant
- They expect to award 15 grants in total, with an average budget of $1,000. Generally speaking, applications with smaller budgets will be more competitive, but they will consider larger grant amounts for stories using innovative, collaborative or investigative approaches that may be more costly and time-consuming.
Eligibility
- Applicants can be from any country in the world; applicants from coastal countries reporting on their home communities are preferred.
- Groups of journalists are eligible, particularly from different countries seeking to produce a cross-border project. However, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. Lead applicants are responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf, if awarded. Groups of journalists looking to produce cross-border stories will be favorably viewed by the judging panel.
- For the purposes of this grant opportunity, EJN will only be accepting applications in English, Spanish, French, Bahasa Indonesia and Portuguese. Unfortunately, they do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff.
- Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with professional reporting experience and a history of covering environmental issues. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations – international, national, local and community-based.
EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct.
Judging Criteria
Applicants should consider the following points when devising their story proposals.
- Relevance: Does the proposal meet the criteria and objectives of the call? Why does this story matter and to whom? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?
- Angle: If the story has been covered, does your proposal bring new insights to the topic or offer a fresh angle?
- Impact: Does the proposal have a compelling narrative or investigative element that will inform and engage, draw attention, trigger debate and urge action?
- Innovative storytelling: The use of creative approaches, multimedia and data visualization will be considered a plus.
Application
All applicants are required to provide a detailed budget with justification for the amount requested using the template provided. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
For more information, visit Earth Journalism Network.
