Deadline: 2 February 2025
The Connectas Fellowship production grants offer the opportunity to conduct in-depth journalistic research in a Latin American and Caribbean country with the editorial support of an experienced transnational team and financial support to produce the story.
Their journalism production grants have no restrictions on topic or format. They are interested in good stories. They seek to support journalists with more than three years of experience, with a clear idea of what they want to investigate and committed to producing an in-depth report.
They are looking for proposals that expose cases of corruption, misuse of public resources, organized crime, human rights violations, abuse of power against vulnerable groups or crimes against the environment and that have a high impact. The best projects will receive editorial support and funding for their implementation.
They are looking for revealing stories that add value to the knowledge of a social phenomenon of national and regional importance. This involves reports with new and attractive information, helping to understand complex issues, rather than providing a more complete account of already known facts. Ideally, they expect stories that reveal abuses by agents of power (political or economic) and that expose structural problems in society, rather than isolated cases. They also value positively if they expose the violation of rights of vulnerable social groups.
Benefits
- Editorial Support: The selected proposals will be developed under an Editorial Partnership with Connectas. You will receive personalized support from an editor from their Editorial Board, who will accompany you from the beginning of the project until its publication.
- Regional Dissemination: Your work will be published in Connectas, the main platform that promotes collaborative journalism in Latin America, and media outlets allied to their Information Community.
- Journalistic Community: Once you publish your work, you will be able to become part of the Connectas Journalism Community, #ConnectasHub, made up of colleagues from all over Latin America and the Caribbean.
Funding Information
- If your proposal is selected, you will receive funding of $1,000 to $3,000 to cover research expenses and journalistic team fees.
Eligibility Criteria
- Be a practicing journalist in media or independent media, with a minimum proven experience of three years.
- Reside in a country in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- The application should include links to recent publications, preferably research, in-depth work or reports.
- The proposal must be in Spanish.
- Only applications submitted through the Matrix Connectas platform will be accepted.
- It is essential that those interested do not have a current scholarship with Connectas.
- Those accepted will have editorial freedom over their story. They must participate in the pedagogical editorial support process in which they will receive continuous feedback on their research.
- Proposals that guarantee prior reporting and knowledge of the subject, that have a strong investigative component, social impact and novelty, and that propose collaboration between journalists will be considered with special interest.
- Those selected will accept the terms of republication of the research material, editorial support, security conditions under which the topics are followed up and preparations for final dissemination.
- Proposals may be submitted individually or as a team.
- All publications must include audiovisual, multimedia or storytelling elements, which will be carried out by the work team.
- Proposals will be submitted within a four-month period.
Selection Criteria
- It is not a requirement that you have advanced research, but they do look for clarity on the topic, precision in what the story is to be investigated and a viable and solid methodological route. That is why they suggest that you take into account:
- Think carefully about what your hypothesis is. It must be supported by evidence and not be something already known.
- Take a good look at what has been published before and what your story contributes. They value the contribution of a story. Presenting what is already known, but in a comprehensive way, does not usually provide information to the public, generally.
- Consider how to confirm your hypothesis with data and documentation. As far as possible, do not rely solely on testimonial arguments.
For more information, visit Connectas.