Fellowships for Environmental Data Journalism

Deadline: 22 April 2016
Open to: journalists interested in producing data-driven stories that highlight issues of water and climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas
Fellowship: up to USD 1,500

Description

The Third Pole and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, with support from the Skoll Global Threats Fund, are providing story fellowships for environmental data journalism in the region.

The river systems of the Hindu Kush Himalaya are interrelated and cross many national boundaries. The region extends 3,500 km over eight countries from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east (inlcuding Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan). These rivers provide water to 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world’s population. Protecting vital systems and restoring damaged ones demands systemic understanding, sound planning and good decision making. This requires the most comprehensive information possible to foster the building of expertise, long-term thinking and collaboration between governments, experts and civil organisations.

Stories should focus on issues that connect water issues to climate change, energy development, policy, regional cooperation and/or biodiversity. Special consideration will be given to applicants looking to produce multimedia packages including maps on topics related to river basins.

Eligibility

All story ideas are welcome, but special consideration will be given to applicants looking to produce multimedia packages including maps on topics related to river basins. Identifying specific data sets that could be used in the report is preferred;
Journalists (online, print, television) with a track record of reporting on environmental issues are welcome to apply;
Freelancers and staff from all types of media outlets—both large and small—to submit applications;
Technical and editorial support from the Third Pole and Earth Journalism Network is available to fellows and a willingness to work collaboratively is considered as part of the selection process.

Fellowship

EJN is offering grants of up to USD 1,500 depending on the proposal and method of coverage. The proposed reports should include multimedia and /or data-driven content. Data visualization software can be used and reporters should be able to collect data, interpret and make simple understandable maps for their stories.