Apply for U.S. Local News Reporting Grants

This opportunity is open to freelance and staff journalists working with local U.S. news outlets to publish in-depth enterprise and investigative reporting projects. The Pulitzer Center is already actively working with partner outlets in many cities, from Milwaukee to Louisville to Tucson to St. Louis. They are committed to investing in U.S. local news by providing the resources to cover stories that might not otherwise get told.

Funding Information

• Pulitzer Center do not have a budget range. They will consider projects of any scope and size, and are open to supporting multiple projects each year.

What they don’t fund?

• To save the grantees and staff time, they thought it would be helpful to outline editorial products and project expenses they don’t fund:
  • Books (they can support a story that might become part of a book, as long as the story is published independently in a media outlet)
  • Feature-length films (they do support short documentaries with ambitious distribution plans)
  • Staff salaries
  • Equipment purchases (equipment rentals are considered on a case-by-case basis)
  • An outlet’s general expenses (for example rent, utilities, insurance)
  • Seed money for start-ups
  • Routine breaking news and coverage
  • Advocacy/marketing campaigns
  • Data projects aimed solely at academic research. Data should be developed to enhance/support journalism.

Who is eligible to apply?

• This opportunity is open to U.S. residents and journalists around the world. They are open to proposals from freelance journalists, staff journalists, or groups of newsrooms working in collaboration with a project idea. They want to make sure that people from many backgrounds and perspectives are empowered to produce journalism. They strongly encourage proposals from journalists and newsrooms who represent a broad array of social, racial, ethnic, underrepresented groups, and economic backgrounds.

For more information, visit Pulitzer Center.