Deadline: October 28, 2022
Applications for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) Audience Engaged Journalism Grants 2022 are now open. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is inviting media outlets interested in connecting with their audiences and reporting on original stories that will make an impact to apply for Audience-Engaged Journalism Grants.
Individual grants will be awarded to selected media outlets that wish to cover national/regional/local topics on their own. Collaborative grants will be awarded to selected media outlets that want to investigate cross-border issues with a media partner.
Grantees selected by the international jury under the Audience-Engaged Journalism Collaboration scheme will undergo a four-day training programme that will be offered online. The training agenda will cover the following topics:
- Planning an engagement story
- How to select an engaging topic
- How to develop a callout
- What makes a project an engagement project?
- Local and global perspective in engagement journalism
- How to design a callout – technical perspective (intro to the BE tool)
- BE tool implementation
- Callout development based on local examples
- How to design a callout from an editorial perspective
- How to read the results; which topic could have success in your newsroom?
- What do people want to talk about?
Grant
Ten (10) successful applicants will receive grants:
- BIRN will grant €4,000 to five (5) successful applicants interested in making an individual audience-engaged story.
- BIRN will grant €5,000 to five (5) successful applicants interested in making a cross-border collaborative story. If a media outlet already knows a media partner for a cross-border story, they apply together for €10,000 to cover expenses for both. If a media outlet is interested in investigating a cross-border story but doesn’t have a partner, BIRN can find a possible partner.
Eligibility
- Media outlets based in the following countries can apply for Audience-Engagement Journalism Grants: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia.
- The call for applications is open to 10 participants in the first year and 10 participants in the second year (one media outlet per country per training cycle).
Selection Criteria
- Demonstrate a deep understanding of the problem they seek to solve.
- Demonstrate a willingness to undertake audience research and find ways to serve new audiences.
- A vision of what success would look like with metrics to measure against.
- Promotion of quality independent journalism
- Capacity to implement the project
- Willingness to include diversity and gender equality
- Openness to journalism collaborations
Application Requirements
- Stories must tackle an issue relevant to your national/regional/local audience if you are applying for individual grant.
- Stories must tackle an issue relevant to audiences in Southeast and Central European countries if you are applying for collaborative grant.
- Applicants should elaborate ideas on how they will include underrepresented communities in their stories (marginalised communities, such as minorities, youth, women and other underreported communities).
- The story must be investigative and in-depth.
- All stories must be published within eight months from the date of signing a contract.
Application
The following supporting documents should be submitted within the embedded application form:
- Detailed budget.
- Business Registry Certificate or any other document certifying that the applicant is registered as a legal entity in (country) as of at least January 2021.
- Financial statements for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal year, if applicable.
- Certificate from relevant tax authority that the media outlet is a regular taxpayer.
- A court certificate that the media outlet does not have ongoing legal proceedings nor is awaiting final judgment of cases against the organization.
- Editorial policy if applicable.
For more information, visit Audience-Engaged Journalism Grants.