Deadline: Ongoing
To support the development of solutions journalism in Central Europe, Transitions, in cooperation with local partners, regularly opens Micro Grant calls in the countries of the region, this support is designed for journalists (including freelancers) who want to do rigorous reporting and bring inspiration from other places that are facing similar social challenges to their communities to help them respond to their problems.
In addition to financial support, they are also offering mentoring during the entire production of the article to achieve the highest possible quality. The grants are for stories from Central and Eastern Europe.
Story pitches must be submitted in English and you are supposed to prepare the article in English for an international audience. But don’t worry; your English doesn’t have to be perfect. They will provide you with an English speaking editor and also, if necessary, they can arrange mentoring in your native language. The stories will be published in Transitions Magazine. However, you are also free to publish the article in your own publication in your native language.
Before you submit your pitch they strongly recommend taking the free course Solutions Journalism: Reporting on Effective Responses to Society’s Problems to be sure you understand the basics of this approach. In their experience, those who have already taken the course or reviewed related resources are much more likely to receive funding.
Funding Information
- The stipends start at 250 euros, but may be more depending on the length and type of story.
- Duration:Â The grant recipients will have six weeks to publish their work.
Factors
- The following factors will be taken into account when assessing the application:
- Focus on a particular solution (investigation of the response to a problem),
- the quality of the project (clearly defined objectives and the activities leading to their achievement),
- impact of project outcomes (social impact),
- the societal importance of the topic and the contribution to public debate,
- predicted audience reach (number of readers/listeners/viewers),
- the professional credibility of the author/editorial staff and the individuals involved in the project,
- the likelihood that the applicant will continue doing solutions journalism in the future.
Criteria
- Your pitch should
- Demonstrate high-quality journalism (rigorous reporting).
- Describe an existing response to a social problem and how it works in detail (it does not present theories and claims of “should be”).
- Show evidence of the impact of the solution (not just good intentions).
- Offers a broader insight/lesson that can be beneficial to others in a similar situation.
- Discusses the limits of the solution/response (no solution is perfect).
- After publishing the story, the grantee is required to submit a report of a minimum of 4,000 characters on his/her practical experience with the use of solutions journalism and to agree that Transitions and/or the Solutions Journalism Network may use all or parts of the final report for promotional or training purposes.
For more information, visit Transitions.
