CFAs: Text Reports on Renewable Energy in India

They welcome pitches on the progress of the transition towards clean energy, the challenges ahead and how to overcome them, and scalable and replicable solutions that empower communities through decentralized renewable energy initiatives.

Theme

• They welcome proposals that seek to robustly evaluate aspects of the transition to RE in India, including issues of generation, finance, transmission, decentralization and community empowerment. They especially welcome proposals that look at replicable and scalable solutions to various challenges in the rollout of RE. They seek to support reports that will drive conversation and make an impact among communities and policymakers at the local, national, and regional level. Issues that have already received a lot of media coverage or don’t provide unique angles to environmental or climate challenges are less likely to be selected.

Funding Information

• Selected applicants will be provided support of up to Rs. 1 lakh each and 1:1 editorial mentorship on how to produce rigorous and impactful reports.

Eligibility Criteria

• Communicators based in India are eligible to apply. They will give preference to applicants from Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
• Groups of communicators are eligible. However, the application must be made in the name of one lead applicant. Lead applicants are responsible for communicating with EJN and receiving funds on the group’s behalf, if awarded.
• For the purposes of this grant opportunity, applications can be submitted in English, Hindi, Marathi or Tamil.
• Please note that this opportunity is for applicants seeking to produce text reports. Supporting images, maps and infographics are welcome and encouraged; for this call, video and radio reports are not eligible.
• They welcome applications from early-career and experienced communicators with a track record of environmental issues. Women, indigenous communicators and communicators from marginalized communities are especially encouraged to apply. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from international, national, local or community-based print or online outlets.
• 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, plagiarism and/or submitting AI-generated content as their own.

Ineligibility Criteria

• They are not looking for:
  • Reports that prescribe or advocate for a particular response
  • Reports that profile a particular person or organization and/or highlight solutions that are implemented by an individual rather than a collective
  • Reports that report “good news” in an uncritical or overly optimistic way
  • Reports that are self-published in blogs or newsletters
  • Reports that are produced for civil society organizations or public relations purposes

Judging Criteria

• Applicants should consider the following judging criteria when devising their proposals.
• Relevance: Does the proposal meet the criteria and objectives of the call? Why does this report matter and to whom? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?
• Objectivity: Is the proposed report likely to be balanced and objective? Communicators should take care that proposed sources represent (or at the very least, invite comment from) a diversity of stakeholders and perspectives: communities, scientists and researchers, policy experts and government officials and industry spokespersons.
• Angle: If the report 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 urge action?
• Innovative reports: The use of creative approaches and data visualization will be considered a plus.
• Outlet: They encourage selected fellows to ensure their grant-supported reports are freely accessible to the public. If their outlet publishes behind a paywall, they ask that the paywall be dropped for a limited time, or a gift link be shared for wider distribution. This ensures the information remains accessible to the wider public and helps achieve broader audience engagement.
• Plan for timely publication: Communicators, 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 their reports by July 31, 2025.

For more information, visit Earth Journalism Network.