Application Deadline: December 7th 2017
Over one billion people in the world lack access to modern energy services, such as electricity to power their community’s X-ray machines or clean-burning cookstoves to prepare their family’s meals. An estimated two times that number lack reliable access. While energy poverty looks different throughout the world, it has significant impacts everywhere on health, access to basic services and economic opportunity.
What systemic issues are driving energy poverty? How are people on the ground impacted?
And, perhaps most importantly, what potential solutions exist that also take climate change
and other social and environmental issues into account?
These are the questions we want to explore through the Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship (AEJF). By supporting journalists around the world to report on energy access in their regions through the AEJF, we aim to shed light on problems and investigate potential solutions.
The goals of the AEJF are twofold. First, it is intended to support journalism on energy access that will have an impact on local public discourse in the reporters’ countries or regions. Second, it will bring stories on energy access from many different parts of the world together on one platform (see: Power Struggle), to paint a broader picture of the global landscape of energy access issues. Because energy poverty looks so different from one place to the next, this collaborative approach will add much-needed depth and nuance to the wider conversation.
Requirements:
- This fellowship is open both to staff reporters and to freelancers who have a written agreement from an editor at a publication to publish the content they produce and take part in the project.
- Preference will be given to reporters who have deep knowledge of the communities/
topics that they plan to report on. The deliverables include:
• A 1,500-2,000-word multimedia web story (including photos, captions and videos).
• The fellows will produce two versions of their article: one written to suit the audience of their local publication (written to a local audience, in a local language, if relevant), and one adapted to speak to an international audience for the project platform and other
participating publications (in English). If the local version of the fellow’s article will be
written/published in a language other than English, any cost associated with translation
should be included in the budget. - The Discourse Media team will work with fellows to edit
their articles for quality, standards and international relevance.
• A reflection piece giving an insider glimpse into the fellow’s reporting for the project.
• Social media content/promotion and an openness to other engagement tools.
The resulting content will be published in multiple places:
• Individual features will be published by each fellow’s media outlet.
• Content from all fellows will be published on Power Struggle, a dedicated project website and hub for energy access journalism.
• All features produced as part of the project will be available to the other media outlets
taking part in the fellowship to publish, if they wish, through a content sharing agreement.
Application procedures
As part of the application, reporters are required to submit:
• A two-page proposal detailing:
›› Your motivation and rationale for wanting to take part in the project.
›› The story idea/angle you will pursue with your reporting, and how you will do so.
›› Additional multimedia that would accompany the piece (e.g. data, maps, sidebars).
• A letter of support from an editor at the publication you work at, expressing commitment
to publish your feature and participate in the project.
• A proposed budget. In general, this funding pool is intended to support reporting expenses beyond compensation provided by the applicant’s publication. Funding is flexible and can cover a range of reporting expenses from travel to supplies.
Requests for personal
stipends will be considered in some cases, particularly in countries where compensation
for journalism is poor. The total pool of available funding for all fellows combined is $8,000
CAD. Please provide a budget that details all expenses that your proposed funding request
would cover.
• A brief bio and CV.
• Two or three examples of your written work. Up to two multimedia examples may be
included in addition to written work.
How to submit
• Applications should be emailed to reporters@discoursemedia.org.
• Application deadline is midnight Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016.
• Fellows will be selected and contacted in mid-January 2017. Articles must be completed and submitted for publication by mid-March 2017.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship 2016/2017
