Deadline: 31-Dec-2025
The Pulitzer Center is seeking proposals to advance wide-reaching and relevant journalism on issues impacting communities in Africa, including but not limited to water and sanitation, land degradation and coastal erosion, education, maternal health, and climate resilience.
With support from the Pulitzer Center, journalist grantees have reported on the effects of fast fashion on Lesotho; coastal erosion’s impact on fishing communities in Ghana; gold laundering in Uganda; and the coming global famines caused by the confluence of COVID-19, climate change, and conflict in Ukraine.
They support projects across all media platforms and encourage ambitious proposals that combine print, photography, audio, and/or video for one or more news outlets. The most successful projects are those in which news outlets match their commitment by adding interactive or multimedia elements to enhance and showcase their original reporting. They encourage their applicants to think creatively about how they distribute their reporting so they may reach the communities that can most benefit from it.
While news organizations are expected to pay freelance journalists, in certain cases stipends may be considered to cover a reporter’s time if detailed in the budget. Contractors such as data researchers, illustrators, or story designers may also be included as part of the proposal. However, the grant does not cover expenses such as books, feature-length films, staff salaries, equipment purchases, an outlet’s general expenses, seed money for start-ups, routine breaking news, advocacy campaigns, or academic-only data projects.
Grants are open to reporters, photographers, radio/audio journalists, television/video journalists, and documentary filmmakers. They are committed to supporting journalists from diverse backgrounds and of all nationalities.
The Pulitzer Center seeks proposals that present original and ambitious reporting ideas. Applicants are asked to provide a project description of no more than 250 words, a preliminary budget estimate with a basic cost breakdown, and a compelling distribution plan supported by letters of commitment from news outlets. Teams are encouraged to reflect the communities they report on, and the grant aims to help partner organizations advance their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and responses are typically provided within one to two weeks of submission.
For more information, visit Pulitzer Center.