“Expansion of Independent Content Production” Project Competition

For the production of cross-border content within the framework of the ERIS project, the use of innovative multimedia tools for storytelling and reaching a wide audience is envisaged.

Project Topics

• Stories should address key issues of the day that are relevant in at least two ERIS project countries (potentially all seven) and reveal them in an interesting and informative way, helping to counter disinformation. Joint projects between media partners from more than two participating countries are also encouraged to be implemented.
• Participants must identify topics and questions that will make the project’s general thematic areas relevant to their audience. Common thematic areas between participating countries include, but are not limited to, the following (ie, applicants may propose projects on other topics that they believe are common and relevant to their countries):
  • Everyday life, shared life experiences, how various broad issues are reflected in people’s personal stories (life, work, prices, economy, political and economic instability, etc.);
  • education;
  • the consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine for neighboring countries and the region, (change in) attitudes towards refugees, international support for Ukraine;
  • spreading and countering Russian war-related propaganda, etc.;
  • dissemination of propaganda and false information;
  • other conflicts and/or frozen conflicts;
  • issues affecting socially vulnerable groups (eg women, ethnic and other minorities);
  • public health;
  • food safety;
  • climate change and environmental problems;
  • Topics are interesting for young people.

Categories of Projects

• One applicant can submit a maximum of two applications within one or two categories. For example, an applicant can submit two applications only in the Solo Projects category, or one in the Solo Projects category and one in the Joint Projects category. The main thing is that the total number of applications does not exceed two.
• Accordingly, one applicant can receive a maximum of two grants. Participants need to be realistic about their own production capabilities when submitting multiple applications, so that in the event that both of them win, they will be implemented within the scope of the grant.
• Within the maximum grant amount for each category, cost justification in applications will be taken into account, taking into account the presence or absence of travel expenses, the amount of materials to be produced and the complexity of the project in general.
  • Solo projects
    • Projects of this category will be implemented by one participant with coverage of issues related to at least one other participating country of the ERIS project. The media project must consist of at least two stories or a series of stories on one common or related topic. The coverage of the topic should be comprehensive and include extensive field reporting, prepared either by the applicant’s full-time employees with their presence in the target country or countries, or by local journalists and content producers that the applicant will employ for this purpose.
    • Within this category, participants from Ukraine can receive grants in the amount of 5 to 8 thousand US dollars.
  • Joint projects
    • Joint projects are implemented through the cooperation of participants from at least two countries participating in the ERIS project. They may also consist of at least two stories or a series of stories on a common or related theme. Content can be produced by a team of journalists from all partners/stakeholders, or they can share responsibilities, with each partner producing different stories or parts of a feature series.
    • Editorial roles and responsibilities should be defined and described by media partners during the development of the project idea. The projects must include extensive coverage of the topic in the target country, but the partners themselves choose how this will be implemented. Each story must include field reports from all project countries. Exceptions are possible only when it is justified by the needs of the project in storytelling and the local context is clearly highlighted, as well as the belonging to one series is traced in each material.
    • All stories will be translated and published by all partners of the joint project. Translation costs are not included in the specified amount of the grant, but will be additionally reimbursed by the ERIS project. Therefore, participants must organize translation services themselves and do not include these costs in the budget when submitting the application.
    • The size of the grant for media partners in Ukraine ranges from 5 to 8 thousand US dollars.

Funding Information

• The winners of the competition will receive financial support in the form of sub-grants to reimburse the costs of content production. The amount of the grant can vary from 5 to 8 thousand US dollars in two different categories.
• The winners of the competition will receive compensation for the following costs : production costs, including logistics and accommodation costs; the cost of contract services (for example, paying a web developer, designer, etc.) for certain aspects of the production; the cost of renting the premises and the salary of full-time employees, according to the level of their involvement in the production of content; operating expenses depending on the level of needs; the cost of the equipment needed to produce the content (up to $5,000); other justified costs related to the process of production of materials. Capital expenditures, loan servicing, and construction work are not eligible for reimbursement within grants.

Geography of Participants

• The ERIS project aims to support cross-border cooperation in the production of materials by media partners from Armenia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine. Materials must cover events in at least one of the listed countries, different from the media partner’s country of origin. Ideas for materials related to countries that are not participants in the ERIS project are not allowed to participate. Solo projects that cover events only in the country of origin of the media partner will also not be considered.

Target Audience

• First of all, media projects should be aimed at a wide audience with a focus on the proposed content of the project.
• Within the framework of the ERIS project in Ukraine, media projects aimed at covering the informational needs of communities with cross-border connections, or especially vulnerable groups to disinformation narratives, are encouraged, in particular:
  • young;
  • ethnic minorities living outside the capitals and megacities and/or residents of border communities, including refugees;
  • Small urban and rural communities.

Who can participate?

• In Ukraine, applications for participation in the cross-border component of the ERIS project can be submitted by:
  • national media;
  • regional online publications;
  • Independent journalists and content producers.

Conditions of Participation

• Contestants from the participating countries of the EPIC project can apply in two categories of projects:
  • solo projects: involve the independent production of content by the media partner, which concerns at least one of the other participating countries of the project (not the country represented by the contestant);
  • Joint projects: involve the production of content by media partners from at least two participating countries within the framework of a joint project.

For more information, visit Internews.