Story Grants to strengthen coverage of Environmental Crimes and Sustainable Solutions 2025

To meet this need, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Internews Americas team, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), through the Together for Conservation project, are now offering a third round of story grants to journalists and communicators from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador  and Peru, to strengthen their capacities to produce high-quality, factual, and engaging public information on the impacts of conservation crimes and highlight viable community-led and policy-driven solutions to mitigate these impacts.

For the last two years, the Together for Conservation project has supported 52 journalists in producing investigative stories on wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, unsustainable and unregulated fishing and the expansion of mining activities in the Amazon region.

Themes

• They welcome story ideas that take a regional perspective on the threats to biodiversity in the Amazon region and focus on the transnational nature of activities such as illegal logging, unsustainable and unregulated fishing, wildlife trafficking, and illegal mining, as well as the relationship between these activities and their impact on Amazonian ecosystems and the communities that inhabit the region.
• They also welcome solutions-oriented stories highlighting efforts to combat environmental crimes, led by Indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society organizations, the private sector or public policymakers. These activities include, for example, sustainable forest management practices, tracking and monitoring wildlife trafficking, and efforts to curb illegality across the value chain, such as certification, among others.

Funding Information

• They expect to award up to 40 grants of around USD 1,500 to USD 2,000. They expect that proposals requesting amounts closer to the upper limit of the budget, USD 2000, will include broader regional coverage, collaboration between journalists and/or across borders, and/or be produced in partnership with two or more media outlets or organizations and/or involve the publication of more than one story or versions of the story in different formats.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants can be based in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; applicants residing in the Amazon region of these countries are preferred. Journalists who received support in previous grant rounds of this project are eligible to apply.
• Groups of journalists are eligible. However, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. If awarded, the lead applicant is responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf. The lead applicant will also be responsible for participating in mentoring sessions, trainings and workshops as part of the strengthening process.
• Candidates who aim to produce more than one story on the proposed topic or who intend to publish the story in more than one format will be given priority among the applications.
• For the purposes of this grant opportunity, they will be accepting applications in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
• 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 covering environment conservation topics in the Amazon region. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations – international, national, local, and community-based.
• Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, to revise their proposals. 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, submitting AI-generated content as their own.

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? Are 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: Using 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 by the end of August 2025.

For more information, visit EJN.