Grant of $7000 to Supports Journalism Collaborations on Energy Transition

Clean Energy Wire (CLEW) is offering the "Go collaborate! Energy transition story grant" for stories with a focus on the relationship between business and the energy transition.

For second call for applications of the cross-border story grant, Clean Energy Wire is looking for stories with a clear-cut focus on the relationship between business and the energy transition.

The first round of the ‘Go Collaborate – Energy transition story grant’ yielded 18 in-depth stories, published in seven media outlets over seven months, following 150 compelling story ideas from 55 pitching teams across 61 countries and all continents. Now, CLEW is calling for a second round of relevant, internationally impactful story pitches that journalists might otherwise have difficulty pursuing due to limited resources and the fast pace of the daily news cycle.

Grant Value:

Two teams will be awarded an overall sum of EUR 7,000. The finalists will pitch their proposals to the audience of the Global Energy Transition Journalism Conference 2019 in Berlin, and compete for the award sums of EUR 3,000 and EUR 4,000.

Benefits:

Successful finalists will be invited to the GETJO19 conference on 08 - 09 April 2019 in Berlin. Pitching your story at the GETJO19 conference is a requirement of the grant. The travel and accommodation costs for two team members to attend the conference will be fully funded by CLEW.

Eligibility:

1. Applicants need to be a cross-border team one in which journalists from different countries and, crucially, different media outlets in different countries pitch a story together.
2. Applicants must agree to follow the code of professional conduct for journalists developed by the International Federation of Journalists, which include the following:
   • Respect for truth and for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist.
   • In pursuance of this duty, the journalist shall at all times defend the principles of freedom in the honest collection and publication of news, and of the right of fair comment and criticism.
   • The journalist shall report only in accordance with facts of which he/she knows the origin. The journalist shall not suppress essential information or falsify documents.
   • The journalist shall use only fair methods to obtain news, photographs and documents.
   • The journalist shall do the utmost to rectify any published information which is found to be harmfully inaccurate.
   • The journalist shall observe professional secrecy regarding the source of information obtained in confidence.
   • The journalist shall be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media and shall do the utmost to avoid facilitating such discrimination based on, among other things, race, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, and national or social origins.
   • The journalist shall regard as grave professional offenses the following:
     • plagiarism.
     • malicious misrepresentation.
     • calumny, slander, libel, unfounded accusations.
     • acceptance of a bribe in any form in consideration of either publication or suppression.
3. Each team member must publish at least one story in their respective publications.
4. Applications for the grant must be submitted in English. As the stories are intended to reach international audiences, there is no specific language requirement for publication.

Eligible Stories:

This round’s focus is on the connection between business and the energy transition and climate crisis story. Make sure that your pitch is centered on this general topic. All types of formats are encouraged, including features, investigative journalism and comparative reporting. Submissions from print, online, TV or radio journalism are all welcome.

Judging Criteria:

The story should meet the following criteria:

1. Is it new, does it make sense? Is it relevant?
2. Is an editor‘s letter of publication intent included?
3. What specific story is your team proposing?
4. Collaboration: Does the proposal include a plan outlining how the collaboration will take place? Specifically: 1) What role will each journalist have on the team? 2) Does the pitch give an idea there is a story to tell in all countries specified?