Earth Journalism Network (EJN) has announced the second round of travel grants for journalists interested in attending and reporting on biodiversity-related conferences and global summits in 2023.
The grant will provide journalists from around the world with the opportunity to cover biodiversity-related conferences and negotiations for their home audiences.
Journalists’ budget proposals can include economy-class airfare, accommodation, meals, travel insurance, visa costs, mandatory COVID-19 testing and transportation costs for journalists to attend the conference of their choosing.
The criteria: The following factors will be taken into consideration when evaluating applicants – previous experience writing about biodiversity and other environmental issues, specific reporting plans for the proposed conference, audience reach of the proposed media outlet, gender balance, and geographic distribution among the cohort.
The Eligibility: To be eligible for the grant, applicants must meet the following conditions:
- Be a professional journalist from or representing an established media house and reporting from a low- or middle-income country. EJN will offer scholarships to journalists from the countries listed here. Women, Indigenous journalists and early-career journalists are encouraged to apply.
- Have previous experience reporting on environmental issues and indicate the kinds of stories they might pursue while attending the conference.
- Commit to attending all days of the conference they are proposing to attend.
- Provide a letter of support from an editor or media outlet, committing to publish or broadcast any stories produced as a result of this scholarship. This is expected of both staffers and freelancers.
- Submit samples of their work, which can be uploaded as documents or web links. Stories can be in any language as long as they are accompanied by a short English synopsis. Story clips related to biodiversity issues are preferred.
- Agree to allow copies of stories produced from the conference to be re-published on the EJN website and distributed via social media, with due credit being given to the original media outlet.
You will be asked to upload these supporting documents once you start the application process.
Travel fund logistics: The scholarship award is up to US$2,500 each. The amount may vary depending on whether international travel is needed for attendance at the conference. In general, applications with frugal requests will be viewed with more favour.
- Applications for conference scholarships will be accepted until 6th January 2023.
- Decisions will be communicated before the end of February.
- Journalists may produce stories in print, online, radio or broadcast formats. Stories produced as a result of this scholarship can be in any language.
- Journalists’ editorial independence is respected and throughout the conference, journalists are free to report as they see fit.
- Republication rights: Those who are awarded grants are free to publish or broadcast stories produced as a result of the scholarship first in their affiliated media.
To apply, click here. Bear in mind that the deadline for applications is 6 January 2023, 11:59 PM, (UTC -11).