CFPs: Mediterranean Media Initiative Story Grants 2024

The total population of the Mediterranean countries is around 529 million; by 2050, the region will be home to more than 650 million people. In recent decades, the once-abundant Mediterranean Sea has found itself at the center of an overfishing crisis: according to estimates from GFCM, despite some improvement, over 60% of assessed Mediterranean fish stocks are currently overfished.

Launched in March 2022, MMI is now in its second phase. Over the past two years, they have fostered a strong network of journalists across the region, supporting the production of impactful stories that shed light on critical marine issues and influenced public understanding and policy decisions related to ocean sustainability in the Mediterranean region.

Story Themes 

• They welcome story ideas that focus on the following themes:
  • Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Destructive Practices: Stories can highlight the impacts of IUU fishing and environmentally harmful fishing methods, and the challenges of monitoring and regulating them. This includes trawling, dynamite fishing, coral harvesting, juvenile fish catches, underreporting of catches, unauthorized fishing in restricted areas, and the complex management of multinational fishing fleets.
  • Emerging Anthropogenic Stressors in Marine Environments: Journalists may choose to explore the impact of human-induced stressors on marine ecosystems. These stressors include increased marine traffic, installation of underwater cables, introduction of invasive species, underwater noise pollution, offshore gas exploration activities, rising sea temperatures, and broader climate change effects.
  • Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs), and Biodiversity Loss; The 30×30 Goal: Stories could focus on the effectiveness of existing MPAs and FRAs in Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, and Italy. Journalists may examine the merits of newly proposed protected areas to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems, challenges in achieving the 30×30 conservation target, stakeholder involvement, and the representation gap in decision-making processes regarding biodiversity conservation.
  • Regional Fisheries Management: Journalists may investigate the impact of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) recommendations on domestic legislation and their implementation. Stories could assess the challenges related to limited regulation and enforcement in regional fisheries management.
  • Innovative Technology Solutions for Mediterranean Marine Issues: Stories could highlight the innovative use of technology in addressing Mediterranean marine issues. This includes the application of Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and the development and deployment of artificial reefs for marine conservation and restoration.
• They seek to support stories that will drive conversation among communities and policymakers at the local, national, and regional level. Don’t provide unique angles to environmental or climate challenges are less likely to be selected.

Story Logistics

• They expect to award up to 10 grants with a budget of up to 1,000 Euros each with the expectation that all stories will be published by January 1, 2025, at the latest. Applicants should consider this timeline when drafting their workplan.
• Safety: They encourage reporters to follow public health regulations and best practices for local disease outbreaks when out in the field, so you do not endanger yourself or the people you’re interviewing. They also encourage journalists to follow best practices on physical and digital safety.
• Language of publication: Stories can be produced in any language. However, applicants who intend to write or produce stories in their local language need to also include an English translation. Please include the cost for translation in the budget, if necessary.
• Story budget: All applicants are required to provide a detailed budget with justification for the amount requested using the template provided below. They ask that the budgets be reasonable and account for costs necessary for reporting, such as travel and accommodation. Please also note on your budget form if you are receiving funding from any other donors for the story.
• Generally speaking, applications with smaller budgets will be more competitive, but they will consider larger grant amounts for stories using innovative, collaborative or investigative approaches that may be more resource-intensive and time-consuming.
• They expect that proposals will largely reflect what equipment the applicant already has access to (including cameras, drones, lighting, tripods, etc.) and will not consider budgets that heavily focus on procuring new equipment.
• They will consider a stipend for the reporters’ salary, particularly if the applicant is a freelancer. Please estimate the time you’ll need to complete this story and propose compensation you believe reflects a fair market rate. They ask, however, that this comprises no more than 30% of the total budget.
• Acknowledgement of EJN support: Published stories and/or broadcasts must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.”
• Republication rights: Those who are awarded grants are free to publish or broadcast their stories first in their affiliated media as long as Internews’ EJN, its partners and the grant funder, Adessium Foundation are also given rights to edit, publish, broadcast and distribute them freely.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants can be from any country that borders the Mediterranean Sea.  Countries include: Algeria; Albania; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Cyprus; Egypt; France; Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory); Greece; Italy; Israel; Lebanon; Libya; Malta; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Palestine; Slovenia; Spain; Syria; Tunisia; Türkiye.
• Groups of journalists are eligible; however, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. Lead applicants are responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf, if awarded.
• For the purposes of this grant opportunity, they will only be accepting written applications in English, French or Arabic. Unfortunately, they do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or French or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff.
• Applications are open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with professional reporting experience. They welcome applications from early-career journalists and experienced reporters with a track record of environmental issues. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations—international, national, local and community-based.
• EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, plagiarism and/or submitting AI-generated content as their own.
• Please note: Advocacy-focused stories, research or academic essays, opinion editorials and/or strategic communications pieces will not be considered for support.

Judging Criteria

• Applicants should consider the following points when devising their story proposals.
  • Relevance: Does the proposal meet the criteria and objectives of the call? Why does this story matter and to whom? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?
  • Angle: If the story has been covered, does your proposal bring new insights to the topic or offer a fresh angle?
  • Impact: Does the proposal have a compelling narrative or investigative element that will inform and engage, draw attention, trigger debate and spur action?
  • Innovative storytelling: The use of creative approaches, multimedia and data visualization will be considered a plus.
  • Plan for timely publication: Reporters, whether freelance or employed at a media outlet, will need to include a letter of support from an editor in their application, committing to publish the stories ideally by January 1, 2025. Requests for extensions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For more information, visit EJN.