Applications call for National Geographic COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists. As COVID-19 continues to evolve and impact communities around the globe, the National Geographic Society is launching an emergency fund for journalists all over the world who wish to cover COVID-19 within their own communities. This fund will place particular emphasis on delivering news to underserved populations, particularly where there is a dearth of evidence-based information getting to those who need it.

The COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists will distribute support ranging from $1,000–8,000 USD for local coverage of the preparation, response, and impact of this global pandemic as seen through evidence-based reporting. Beyond reporting on medical and physical health-related to COVID-19, we especially encourage reporting that covers social, emotional, economic, and equity issues. Narratives around the Pandemic necessarily include facts and numbers, but ultimately, must also go deeper—telling the stories of inequities that COVID-19 has brought to light.

Topic Areas

Reporting may cover any aspect of the virus and its fallout, including but not limited to:

• Social consequences of COVID-19 and measures to contain it, particularly related to equity—such as its impact on immigrant communities, domestic violence, and early childhood education.
• Stories of resilience and solutions that could be applied on a regional or global scale.
• Novel forms of data visualization or science communication to help communities better understand how to protect themselves.
• Lessons learned from the local response(s) to COVID-19 that could be applied to other large-scale challenges, such as climate change or the refugee crisis.
• Best practices of how educators, students, and schools are reacting to this crisis, particularly as they illuminate under-resourced schools.

Funding

The COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists will distribute support ranging from $1,000–8,000 USD for local coverage of the preparation, response, and impact of this global pandemic as seen through evidence-based reporting. Beyond reporting on medical and physical health-related to COVID-19, we especially encourage reporting that covers social, emotional, economic, and equity issues. Narratives around the Pandemic necessarily include facts and numbers, but ultimately, must also go deeper—telling the stories of inequities that COVID-19 has brought to light.

Criteria 

• This fund is for local and even hyper-local distribution models. This fund is designed to quickly deliver support so that both individual stories and longer series of the content may be created.
• The program seeks writers, photographers, videographers, audio journalists, cartographers, filmmakers, and data visualization experts to apply for this funding.
• Journalists should seek placement of this work within their local media ecosystems and must attribute their support to the National Geographic Society’s Emergency Fund for Journalists.
• However, you do not need to submit any formal commitments of publication or letters of support from editors or publishers. National Geographic Society or National Geographic Partners may also choose to publish some of this work as part of its global coverage.

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