Grants of up to €20,000 to support freelance journalists
The Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund has just opened the second round of applications for the Freelancer Support Scheme.
The scheme provides grants of up to €20,000 to cross-border teams made up entirely of freelancers. It will also offer an extra layer of support through training, mentoring and networking opportunities.
The deadline for applications is 23 February, 23:59 CET.
Managed by the European Journalism Centre (EJC), the scheme is designed to support journalists operating outside of newsroom structures who may be underserved by other journalism support schemes and/or who are significantly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis or other pressures, including war in Ukraine, yet who are nonetheless willing and able to collaborate with others to launch investigations of importance to audiences at a local, national, regional and European level.
Investigations developed for all formats — including print, broadcast, online media, documentary filmmaking and multi-platform storytelling — are eligible to receive support.
Grantees have six months to complete their projects. During these six months, in addition to grant funding, they benefit from two types of non-financial support, mentoring and training.
The EJC will organise a half-day online event to bring together Freelancer Support Scheme grantees, mentors and other external experts. The event will be in a format that encourages active participation from both grantees and mentors, allowing them to align their mutual expectations and maximise the effectiveness of the programme. At least one member per team should attend the networking event.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for the Freelancer Support Scheme, applications must be submitted by teams composed entirely of freelance journalists that meet the following criteria:
- They must be based in at least two EU member states, OR…
- They must be based in at least one EU member state and at least one official EU candidate country (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey or Ukraine).
- Third-country team members from further afield are welcome to take part, but they must be part of teams that fulfil the core geographical criteria described above. In other words, they must be part of teams with members based in at least two EU member states or at least one EU member state and one EU candidate country.
- Please note that unlike in previous editions of IJ4EU, journalists based in the United Kingdom will no longer be treated as equivalent to their counterparts in EU member states. The United Kingdom is now treated the same as any other third country.
In addition:
- Teams must collaborate on a topic of cross-border relevance, and
- They must be signed up to a press regulator, journalists’ union, trust initiative, or part of a press association, or have current CVs/online portfolios that demonstrate relevant qualifications or a history of working with trusted news organisations.
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Freelances Versus The Economic Crisis: a tips ’n’ info exchange.
24 November 2022
18.30 — UK time
It is a London Freelance Branch initiative but generously open to all NUJ freelancers — and guests even, perhaps inveigling non-members to join up …
There will be five “experts” in the middle of substantial and diverse freelance journo careers, but they won’t talk for long in a set-piece way and most of the meeting will be about the freelancers present raising problems and everyone pitching in with experiences and suggestions that could help.
Full details at http://www.londonfreelance.org/fl/2211col.html. Send any queries etc. to Phil Sutcliffe at philsutcliffe47@gmail.com
You can get the Zoom link for the meeting from Phil but this is it: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86420238573?pwd=alg5UzZlQjBsWFJUdkJHclZLcjNqQT09
Meeting ID: 864 2023 8573
Passcode: 850683
londonfreelance.org
Freelances versus the economic crisis
Are you a freelance feeling the pinch and the punch of economic horrors? Come!
Funding opportunity
NUJ-NL has been informed of the following funding opportunity for members.
The European Journalism Centre writes:
“We would like to alert you of a funding opportunity that might be of interest to the members of your association. We would be grateful if you could pass this message around!
Our 2023 Global Health Security Call is a project that will deliver grant funding and facilitate research opportunities to support in-depth journalistic analysis on the topic of global health security.
The mission of the Global Health Security Call is to incentivise and enable impactful journalistic coverage of the topic, in order to create sustained relationships between freelance journalists and media organisations, and engage the public, key stakeholders and decision makers about the topic.
The Call will provide grants of up to 8,500 USD per project and is aimed at journalists publishing stories in opinion-forming media organisations across France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway and Sweden. Applications close on 9 December at 17:00 CET.
You can find more information, eligibility criteria and the application form here: https://grant.ejc.net/s/global-health-security-call-2023“
