Clean Energy Wire CLEW call for applications

The energy transition has become one of the defining global stories of our time. Its implications and innovations cross traditional boundaries between nations, business sectors and journalistic beats. We at the foundation-funded non-profit Clean Energy Wire CLEW are committed to supporting journalists covering the epochal shift towards a low-emissions economy that is crucial to meet the pledge 195 countries signed up to with the Paris Agreement. We believe a cross-border perspective is key to reporting on this global transition. Many major energy and climate policy stories cannot be properly explored in a purely national context and demand an audience beyond a single domestic readership.

This is why Clean Energy Wire CLEW is offering three grants for the most promising international collaborative reporting projects. We will support collaborative media teams from at least two different countries, on stories with international significance.

Theapplication deadline is 15 September 2017.

Application criteria

• Teams of at least two journalists working across different media outlets in different countries will be eligible.
• Adherence to internationally applicable professional journalistic standards is a must. By submitting your application, you agree to follow the code of professional conduct for journalists developed by the International Federation of Journalists. You are also welcome to consult the principles of quality journalism and transparency that the Clean Energy Wire additionally subscribes to.
• The backing of an editor, or editors, stating concrete interest in publishing your story is an advantage.
• Focus: Topics that explore the transition to clean energy, climate policy and the shift to a low-carbon economy will be considered.
• Cross-border: The story must take a genuinely cross-border approach, i.e. involving actors or activities in more than one country. In addition, it must be aimed at publication by different media outlets in two or more countries by April 30, 2018. Your application must demonstrate how a cross-border perspective adds value to your story.
• Type of story: All types of story are encouraged, including features, investigative journalism and comparative reporting. This grant is targeted primarily at print and online journalism but projects in other media/taking a multimedia approach will also be considered.
• Language: The story may be published in any language/s. Applications for the grant must be submitted in English.

What Clean Energy Wire CLEW offers

Clean Energy Wire CLEW will support successful applicants’ stories with a grant of between EUR4,000 and 6,000. The three successful journalist teams will be invited to the 2017 Clean Energy Wire CLEW Network Conference, which will take place in Bonn, Germany, 10-11 November 2017. Each team will present their project pitch and an audience vote will decide which will receive the award of EUR 6,000, EUR 5,000 or EUR 4,000.

The process

• In your application, we ask you to include a rough budget for your project, and to specify any additional sources of funding for the project (e.g. your employer or other grants if applicable).
• Once you have submitted your application, Clean Energy Wire CLEW will put forward all project proposals that meet the submission criteria to the three-member jury. All three judges hold long-standing expertise in either the study or practice of journalism in connection to climate change and the energy transition. The jury will select three successful projects. The identities of jury members will be disclosed following the announcement of the three grant recipients.
• The successful projects will be notified during the first week of October, and invited to the 2017 Clean Energy Wire CLEW Network Conference. Our conference will take place in parallel to the COP23 in Bonn, and bring together journalists and media organisations working on energy transition topics and cross-border journalism. All costs of participation for the members of the successful teams will be fully funded by us.
• Following the conference, 50 percent of each grant will be awarded up front, and the remaining 50 percent on publication of the story.