Apply now for our workshop “reporting on refugees”
Grants to enable cross-border work and research for journalists, bloggers and documentary filmmakers from EaP countries and Germany
Wars and conflicts are important topics for journalists, bloggers and documentary filmmakers. But when the wars are over, also the cameras often disappear, leaving victims and affected societies alone. Without international attention, nationalist perspectives and narratives gain room to spread, harming those who are raising questions and try to put an eye on own mistakes. Thus, the truth is not only the first victim in a war, but in the aftermath of wars and conflicts civil society and media freedom are harmed even when the weapons are silent.
This is where our project comes in: we support journalists, bloggers and filmmakers that work in transnational teams on the situation of refugees from and in their countries in order to arouse empathy for all victims. We will coordinate the matchmaking with selected partners from the countries you would like to work with and help you in developing your project topics/ideas during a two days online seminar in July. We will also invite representatives of Institutions working with refugees, awarded journalists, filmmakers and other experts.
If your idea is selected and the travel restrictions are lifted, you will work for about two months together with your colleagues, talk to refugees and displaced persons face-to-face and come up with the story for the media in both of your home countries. We will compensate your expenses for travel and accommodation.
In certain cases, we can also cover the costs for renting equipment and costs the media outlets have, e.g. for translating or subtitling movies, transferring a film into a web compatible version etc. The best journalistic products/film (chosen by the organizers) will be awarded with prize money.
Finally, selected teams will meet in a networking event in Georgia (most likely in October) together with colleagues from all Eastern partnership countries and representatives of internationally active media outlets to present their results and develop concepts for future cooperation.
Who can apply?
English-speaking journalists, bloggers and filmmakers of all ages – employees or freelancers - with at least some experience in working with refugees or conflict journalism from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine as well as from Germany.
What do we need from you?
- A cover letter in which you describe both your professional background and the reasons for your application.
- Detailed curriculum vitae
- A project idea outlining the research you would like to conduct, the duration of the research and the place where you want to work as well as the country where you are looking for a partner. In most cases, we expect you to work in binational teams. However, if you have comprehensible reasons to do the research in three countries, just let us know. Please also write down in a few sentences how you can achieve your goals if travel and other pandemic restrictions will continue. ● We consider it as an asset if you can already give us a name of a media outlet that would be interested in your text/film/multimedia-story, but it is not necessary for the application. ● If possible a proof of your knowledge of English.
Send these documents only via e-mail (pdf, in total not more than 5 MB) to <reportingonrefugees@berliner-journalisten-schule.de> not later than June 13th, 2021.
Normally you do not need to send certificates and recommendations, only if they have a direct connection to your applications.
Covid-19 information: Due to a dynamic situation, we cannot predict the pandemic situation by end of July in the different EaP countries. Therefore, we do not exclude the possibility of changing the format of the final network meeting to hybrid (online/offline) or have it in country which is less affected by the pandemic in October. We will communicate all possible changes with you and promise to make everything possible to maintain your safety and health.
This project is run and organized by Berlin Journalism School in cooperation with partners in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact Clemens Schöll, head of the program <clemens.schoell@berliner-journalisten-schule.de>.
