Nominations open for IJ4EU Impact Award

Categories

• Investigation Support Scheme: IJ4EU’s Investigation Support Scheme provides financial support to cross-border journalistic teams working on investigations of public interest in Europe.
• Freelancer Support Scheme: IJ4EU’s Freelancer Support Scheme provides teams of journalists working outside of newsroom structures with grants plus an extra cushion of tailored assistance including training, mentoring and networking opportunities.

Award Information

• Investigation Support Scheme
  • Applicants to the Investigation Support Scheme can request grants of between €5,000 and €50,000.
• Freelancer Support Scheme
  • Grants of up to €20,000 plus bespoke support for freelancers.

Eligibility Criteria

• The eligibility criteria will be broadly similar to the submission requirements for the Investigation Support Scheme and the Freelancer Support Scheme. Specifically:
  • The award will be open to cross-border investigations published via any credible medium (e.g. print, broadcast television or radio, online, documentary film, multimedia etc.).
  • Nominated investigations must have been published between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.
  • Nominated investigations must involve journalists based in at least two European countries that have signed up to the full cross-sectoral strand of the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme, which provides core funding for IJ4EU.
  • Nominated investigations need to highlight issues of common interest for European countries, and be seen to have strengthened European media.
  • Nominated investigations may have been published in any language. However, for investigations not published in English, a translation in English of the core investigation/summary must be provided.
  • Nominations must include any significant challenge to the honesty, accuracy or fairness of an entry, such as published letters, corrections, retractions as well as responses by the relevant newspaper or website.
• Geographical eligibility
  • Eligible countries are those that have fully signed up to the cross-sectoral strand of the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme:
    • All EU member states plus
    • Three European Free Trade Association countries (Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein) and
    • The following EU candidate countries:
    • Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.

Application Requirements

• Nominations for the IJ4EU Impact Award must include:
  • Name and contact details of the person nominating the project
  • Name and the contact details of the lead nominee
  • Country where the nominee is based
  • The title of the project or story (in English)
  • Publication type (e.g. print, broadcast TV, broadcast radio, online, documentary film, multimedia, podcast)
  • Date of first publication
  • Link to the publication
  • A brief summary of the project (the core findings of the investigation)
  • A brief summary of the process of investigation
  • A brief summary of the project’s cross-border effectiveness
  • A brief description of any obstacles faced by the nominee in carrying out the work
  • An estimate of how long it took to carry out the project
  • Full names of all the members of the team, with countries they are based in and their contact details
  • The name of the outlet(s) in which the project or story was first published
  • Names of other media and platforms in which the story has been published
  • Summary of the impact of the project (political, institutional and structural changes, actions, and reactions, impact in journalistic community, acknowledgements via awards and mentions, and potential to create further impact)
  • A brief explanation of why the proposer thinks the investigation deserves this award
  • A summary of any critical responses following publication of the project
• The following supporting information is required:
  • Evidence of any impact that the story/project has had
  • Links to the project or pdfs of published material
  • Copies of any significant criticism of the project that led to corrections, retractions or responses by the media outlet/s

For more information, visit IJ4EU.