Innovation in Development Reporting (IDR) Grant Programme

The European Journalism Centre (EJC) is accepting applications for grants to support creative reporting that covers international development issues. Journalists are encouraged to break away from the stereotypes of covering development issues and innovate the storytelling behind development. The grant intends to raise awareness about these issues by having a strong impact on media audiences in 8 of the European countries with the highest net official development assistance: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (UK). However, all other journalists and media outlets, as well as freelancers, may apply in cooperation with eligible organisations. The grant project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for a minimum grant of €8,000, since the programme aims to support projects of great impact and high visibility. The average grant given is expected to be about €20,000. A maximum of 25 to 30 grants will be made available in 2013.

EJC will provide a selection of innovative reporting projects with the necessary funds to enable journalists, editors, and development stakeholders to perform thorough research and to develop new and experimental reporting and presentation methods. They will also be able to use multi-platform approaches and to think laterally across disciplines and techniques of journalistic storytelling.

Projects are required to address by theme, style, and presentation the general public, or large audience segments, or must effectively leverage important multipliers. They may be one-off publications or entire series, which must be narrative, exploratory, and explanatory in nature, and may be presented in a linear or non-linear fashion including text, graphics, images, animations, interactive elements, video, audio, or film. Projects aiming at cross-country cooperation and using multiple platforms are strongly encouraged to apply.

All projects funded through this grant project will be further distributed (in English) via journalismgrants.org. Publication under a Creative Commons License is encouraged in order to allow for global and free access.