Request for Applications: EPIC Local Content Production Grants (Georgia)

The EPIC project aims to assist in the production and dissemination of high-quality, credible, engaging, and innovative fact-based multimedia content across platforms that addresses issues of importance to communities across Georgia.

Themes

• Possible topics and themes include, but are not limited to:
  • Wars, conflicts, and regional affairs;
  • Territorial integrity and security;
  • European and Euro-Atlantic Integration;
  • Elections;
  • Youth affairs;
  • Human rights, including the rights of minority groups;
  • Education and employment;
  • Health, living standards, and social welfare;
  • Countering disinformation and fakes; and
  • The economy.
• Materials produced under the project should refrain from reproducing or disseminating misinformation narratives, unverified and non-factual information, non-scientific statements and advice, or superstitions. Editorials, opinion pieces, and short-form fiction will not be considered.
• The content itself must not be and may not contain any form of hidden or native advertising or sponsored, bartered, or paid content.

Content Formats

• Applicants should pitch series of stories where individual pieces are linked by a common theme or interrelated themes. Projects that have the potential to be continued beyond the grant’s implementation period are welcome.
• The pieces should have strong video and/or multimedia storytelling to reach a wide range of audience groups and make the content accessible to people with various information needs.
• Multimedia content can include, but is not limited to: video, photography, animation, a wide range of infographics, graphics, drawings, audio segments, interactivity, or even gamification. A mix of formats within a series of stories is acceptable if it enhances reader engagement and the potential reach of stories.
• The individual pieces within a series can be video stories or text- or visual-based multimedia, including, but not limited to:
  •  standalone videos such as reportage, explainers, features, or other video content,
  • Multimedia stories:
    • Text-Based content that provides concise information and/or overviews, supplemented by multimedia (video, photography, data visualization, audio etc.);
    • Visual-Based content, with photography, video segments or data visualization taking center stage with text providing supporting information.
• Content should utilize the publishers’ own platforms (traditional channels and/or websites) for original publication, except in the case of platform-native content creators. Shorter versions, which also include multimedia element(s), will be shared via social media platforms.

Funding Information

• Selected applicants will receive financial support in the form of cost-reimbursable subgrants to produce relevant content. The Funder anticipates awarding five (5) grants, each up to USD $8,000 per applicant. Under no circumstances will the Funder consider an application for an award exceeding $8,000.
• The disbursement of the grant will be made in two installments: 80% upon signing of the grant agreement and 20% upon successful completion of the project and submission of the final narrative and financial reports.
• Additional funding will be available for enhancing the reach and impact of content produced in the project.
• Based on the needs of the selected applicants, the Funder will also hire experts to provide technical expertise related to the content and expert consultancy and/or training to help establish or strengthen capabilities of applicants to produce, disseminate, and promote their content.  Types of support may include consultations on audience expansion and multimedia products as well as editorial support. Applicants are encouraged to indicate the areas or specific aspects of production or promotion for which they would need or welcome consultancy, assistance, mentoring, or training on the application form.
• EPIC will also support content producers in regional cross-border networking and content sharing through a story database and online and in-person events.
• Duration
  • Once grant agreements are signed, Media Partners will have six months to produce, publish, and promote the pieces of their series. No more than one month should elapse between pieces.
  • During this time, they will have expert consultancy and mentoring provided by the EPIC project available to them. Online exchanges will be organized for media partners from the project countries.

Target Audience

• The Funder is looking for series of stories that cover nationwide and local issues in Georgia. Local stories will be considered if the theme, topic, or subject is also relevant to audiences outside of the specific region.
• Media stories should speak to a wide range of audiences or address issues of interest to communities and audience groups that are underserved or especially affected by or vulnerable to misinformation. Such groups include, but are not limited to: youth, small town and village communities, minorities, and people not regularly reached by a wider range of independent media outlets practicing credible, fact-based reporting.
• Stories for and/or about specific audience groups (such as youth or ethnic minorities) should prominently feature or speak with the voice of that specific audience.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered eligible for a sub award resulting from this RFA:
  • For media outlets: the publishing organization must be legally registered in Georgia; for independent journalists and content creators: the applicant must have a registered entity in Georgia, e.g. as a private entrepreneur;
  • The applicant has been active in the Georgian media market as a content producer for more than one year;
  • The applicant regularly publishes media content that specifically targets a national, local, or regional audience with public affairs coverage;
  • The applicant follows an independent editorial policy and has a proven dedication to professional journalistic standards and ethics;
  • The applicant has a demonstrated record of producing clear, unbiased, pluralistic content about issues of public interest;
  • The applicant publicly self-identifies as an independent organization or journalist;
  • The organization publishing this media outlet is not owned or managed by public authorities, local or national governments, political parties, individuals holding public office or positions in political organizations, or their close relatives;
  • For former media partners: the applicant is in good standing in performance and reporting under previous sub grants by the Funder, if applicable.
• The current grantee media outlets funded by the EPIC project are also eligible to apply.

For more information, visit Internews Network.