Deadline: 21-May-21
The National Foundation for India has opened applications for Fellowships for Independent Journalists.
India is facing a second and worse wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
At this time, the country requires journalism to tell the stories of courage, of loss and grief, of the state of preparedness and about the efforts being made by communities, individuals, civil society and government.
Themes
The story could be on one of these themes or on the intersection of these themes. This is an indicative list and not an exhaustive one.
- How are local, district, state or central governments responding (or, not responding) to the second wave of covid-19.
- Specific stories of how people, communities, civil society and/or businesses responding to the second wave of covid-19. The public health challenge in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
- Particular conflicts over common property resources, resource-capture and corruption. Contests and conflicts over natural resources.
- Cases, episodes or developments impacting the environment.
- Misgovernance or, good governance.
- Livelihoods and rights of people.
- Functioning of essential services and social security schemes.
- Workings of businesses and economy that impact society, rights and resources.
- Social cooperation and innovation in the face of new challenges.
- Civil and fundamental rights of citizens.
- Evidence-based trends in how their societies are changing.
What does the Fellowship Provide?
- Each fellow will be granted INR 30,000 to publish one story of 1,000-1,500 words on a broad range of themes and issues of public interest, reported in depth over one month.
- If required, NFI will connect the grantee to a senior journalist as a mentor to guide and help the grantee in reporting better.
- They will aid the grantee in publishing the stories with different media organisations. The reportage in Malayalam will be published by their partner Azhimukham.
Eligibility Criteria
Journalists who meet the following two criteria:
- Independent journalists not engaged on a full-time basis with any media organisation.
- Journalists who are Indian citizens and residing in India outside the six metropolitan cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Requirements
- The expected story length is 1,000-1,500 words.
- They encourage fellows to also record videos and audio and click photographs. These are used while publishing stories and while reproducing the stories in other multimedia formats
How are the fellows selected?
- On the next page they provide details, criteria and a pitch guide for the application.
- An NFI-appointed jury of eminent journalists selects the grantees based on the detailed application. For the fellowships to report in Malayalam, the editorial leadership of Azhimukham and NFI will jointly select fellows.
- Weight-age is given to candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Early submissions get additional weight-age during the selection process.
- Fellowship grants are announced within 15 days of the application window closing. Successful candidates are informed by email and through announcement on the NFI website.
For more information, visit http://www.nfi.org.in/fellowships
