Deadline: 30-Apr-22
The Southeast Asia Rainforest Journalism Fund (RJF) and the Pulitzer Center are opening a new special call for grant applications. Journalists, editors, and independent media organizations are invited to submit a proposal on the biodiversity of tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia: Impact of exploitation and deforestation on biodiversity and conservation efforts.
Funding Information
Budget: Up to US $10,000 maximum award amount for these grants, but depending on project specifics, it may be higher. Budgets can include, for example:
- Compensation for local journalists;
- Cost of project coordination/management;
- Travel and lodging;
- Data analysis and visualizations.
For approved projects, half of the grant amount is generally paid just before the reporting, and the remainder is delivered upon submission of the principal material for publication or broadcast. Specific grant terms are negotiated during the application process.
Key Points
The projects should consider several points:
- Much of the forest areas, including rainforest, in Southeast Asia are deforested. How has and will this impact biodiversity and conservation? Who is responsible?
- Rainforests, especially in lowland tropical areas, are rich in biological diversity with flora and fauna. What has been done to protect and conserve biodiversity in the region?
- Millions of people, including Indigenous communities, live near and inside forests. How local communities that live in the forest benefit from forest biodiversity for food, medicines and tradition.
- Why protecting forest biodiversity is important for climate mitigation and helps regulate resource sustainability such as food, clean water and air, and health.
- Issues related to injustices, gender inequality and land rights issues.
Consider the goals and impact of your reports. How can your reports spark conversation and raise awareness (among policy makers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities who live near and depend on the forest, scientists and researchers) about deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity conservation.
The projects should highlight local voices and have a strong distribution plan in influential local and/or regional news media (can be print, online and/or broadcast, or a combination). The plan must include commitment letters from interested editors and publishers working in the news media outlets they propose.
Eligibility Criteria
Grants are open to journalists, writers, photographers, radio producers, and filmmakers. Staff journalists, as well as freelancers of any nationality, are eligible to apply. Newsrooms or teams may also apply—the team lead should be the main applicant.
Criteria for Proposals
Proposed projects should:
- Involve collaboration. This could include local and/or indigenous journalists, or domestic-international media partnerships;
- Have strong and strategic distribution plan;
- Demonstrate attention to editing, reporting, and safety standards (for example, avoiding unnecessary travel and implementing preventive health measures for journalists and communities);
- Utilize innovative reporting techniques, such as data journalism and multimedia storytelling (photos, videos, infographics, etc.), to build strong stories with minimal pandemic and safety risk to sources.
- Projects involving collaborations (between national and/or Indigenous journalists, or between domestic-international media partnerships) will get extra consideration, though projects by solo journalists or single media outlets are acceptable.
For more information, visit https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/special-call-proposals-biodiversity-tropical-forests