Research Grant for Dutch and Belgian Journalists 2024

With this project, Journalismfund aims at addressing the shortage of local independent journalism by awarding grants to local investigative journalistic projects in Belgium and the Netherlands and by stimulating the cross-border collaboration. In this way, cities in Belgium and the Netherlands could mutually strengthen each other (e.g. by forming each other’s benchmark) and as such increase the impact of the supported publications.

Funding Information

• For this round there’s €100.000 available. The funds come from the Flemish Government (Department of Culture, Youth and Media).

Which Costs?

• A grant can cover two types of costs:
  • Expenses (both for freelance journalists as for employed staff journalists).
  • These can include travel, visa, accommodation, translation, fixers, access to pay-databases, FOI requests, legal screening, etc.
  • Research time (only for freelance journalists).
  • Following expenses are NOT eligible for a grant: investments goods (such as IT equipment, cameras, …), office costs, production costs, food and beverage, per diems.

For who?

• Teams of at least one journalist living in Belgium and one living in the Netherlands are eligible.
• If relevant to the story, team members from elsewhere may also be accepted.

Eligibility Criteria

• Both beginning (starters) and experienced journalist (seniors) can submit a project that cannot be realised through the normal channels of journalism, that has major news value and depth and that is also original, innovative and time-consuming.
• The applicant must be a journalist (written or audio-visual press), or be able to prove that he/she is aspiring to a career in journalism. Personal references and/or references to earlier work are essential in that respect.
• Only natural persons can apply for a grant.
• Projects with regard to investigative and special journalism must deal with topics that are relevant for Flanders.
• The project must be published in a Dutch-language medium in Belgium and a medium in the Netherlands. A letter of intent for publications from at least one professional news outlet on each side of the Dutch-Belgian border is required for journalists with more than 2 years of experience. For starters this is considered a plus.
• All journalistic end products qualify for a grant: newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television documentaries and series, photo-reportages and books, podcasts and journalistic non-fiction books.

For more information, visit Journalismfund Europe.