Announcing Six Journalism Grants

GRID-Arendal announces six journalism grants to support the investigation of environmental crime.

By GRID-Arendal

November 10^th, 2023

Like every year since 2015, GRID-Arendal is offering grants for investigative journalism projects focused on environmental crime in developing countries. In 2024, we are offering a total of six grants, each representing 20,000 Norwegian kroner (approximately €2,000).

Applications are due by 4 December 2023; grant winners will be notified in December 2023, with awarding in January 2024.

Applications should be made through this online form.

GRID-Arendal is a non-profit environmental foundation based in Norway and supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), among other donors. We are a Partner of the UN Environment Programme and collaborate with other partners on projects that protect the environment, restore ecosystems, and advance the Sustainable Development Goals, emphasising supporting developing countries by creating environmental knowledge to encourage positive change.

Our journalism grant program funds in-depth investigative journalism that breaks new ground and reveals further information about environmental crimes occurring within or across developing countries. We seek high-impact reporting, especially on issues that mainstream media neglects. We invite proposals for projects on various media platforms, including audio and multimedia projects. Proposals for data journalism, data visualisation, and open-source intelligence (OSINT) journalism are encouraged. All projects must be written in English (or translated to English if published in a different language). However, we encourage submissions from journalists working in a variety of languages.

Our grants will support reporting projects focusing on one or more countries on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) list of Official Development Assistance recipients.

Past journalism grants from GRID-Arendal have, among others, supported reporting on:

Illegal gold mining in rainforests in Colombia (Newsweek)
Logging in a national park in Kenya (Reuters)
Illegal logging in Bolivian national parks (Mongabay)
Illegal coal mining in Zimbabwe (The Standard)
Palm oil culture impacts in Indonesian rainforest (Vice)
Gender persecution around environmental militantism in Colombia (Mutante)
Illegal charcoal exploitation in Nigeria (SaharaReporters)
Illegal wildlife trade of pangolins in Pakistan (Express Tribune)
Illegal mercury trade (Revista LATE)
Initiatives to save the Argentine Chaco (Mongabay)
Avocado cultivation and illegal logging in Mexico (Al Jazeera)
Deforestation in the Argentine Chaco (Mongabay)
Pollution crimes and economic impact in Abu Qir Bay (CNN)
Plastic and climate change impacts in Pakistan (TCM)
Illegal poaching financing militiamen in DRC-Uganda (Information is power)
Greenwashing made in Europe and Indonesia (Voxeurop.eu)

This year, themes we are interested in funding include (but are not limited to):

Illegal wildlife trade and poaching, in particular, illegal trade taking place online and at the international level;
Illegal logging and timber trade, including fraud in the carbon offset market or “greenwashing”.
Illegal mining, particularly minerals used for “green energy”, and improper disposal.
High-seas crimes and deep-sea mining;
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fisheries;
Water management involving land use injustices and transboundary collaboration implications.
Waste crimes, mainly related to the illicit trade and dumping of plastic waste, E-waste and electronics consumption;
Impact of armed conflicts on the environment;
Criminalisation and silencing of environmentalists’ defenders.

Will be given priority to stories:

Highlighting environmental justice issues and illicit financial flows.
With innovative format (multi format, audio, story-map) and data presentations (visual, graphical), especially when using AI, remote sensing technologies and open source information.

GRID-Arendal additional support:

This year, GRID-Arendal will offer additional support to grantees, which can include graphic design, GIS data management, scientific expertise, mentoring and training, depending on their needs.

In the case of projects that involve travel to indigenous, isolated, or vulnerable communities, we will require a plan to preserve those communities' safety.

The deadline for finishing a project will be six months from signing a grant agreement. Funded stories are expected to acknowledge the grant support from GRID-Arendal and allow re-publication on our website.

Eligibility criteria

You must be a professional journalist, either a staff member at a media organisation or a freelancer with a record of publishing work in respected media organisations.
You must not have benefited from the GRID-Arendal Grant in the past.
You must have experience in investigative journalism.
It would be best if you were used to working with deadlines and following an agreed-upon publication plan.
You must speak English or have the means to translate your story into English.

Journalists from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply. We encourage applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds.

Application requirements

Applications are due in full by midnight Central European Time (CET) on 4 December 2023.

Applications should be made through this online form.

Applications and supporting documents should be in English, and budgets should be expressed in Norwegian kroner. All materials should be included in the online form application. Applications that are incomplete or do not meet these requirements will not be considered.

Evaluation process

Applications will be evaluated by a team of GRID-Arendal personnel. Among other factors, we will consider:

Potential to reach a broad audience
Potential to create an impact and induce positive change
Journalist’s experience in investigative reporting (we may ask for professional references in the final phase)