About the Fellowship
India is facing a second and worse wave of Covid-19 pandemic. At this time, the country requires journalism to tell the stories of courage, of loss and grief, of the state of preparedness and about the efforts being made by communities, individuals, civil society and government. Journalists are needed to document with rigour the gaps and lacunae in governance when it appears.
At the same time, journalists need to be vigilant about the many spiralling effects that the pandemic and subsequent decisions to tackle it have on lives of many and on the economy at large. To help them do so, NFI is launching the second window of its media fellowships for independent journalists outside six large metropolitan cities.
In this second round, up to 25 fellowships are available for reporting in English and up to 10 fellowships are available for reporting in Malayalam.
Stories to Pitch for the Grant
The story could be on one of these themes or on the intersection of these themes. This is an indicative list and not an exhaustive one.
- How are local, district, state or central governments responding (or, not responding) to the second wave of covid-19.
- Specific stories of how people, communities, civil society and/or businesses responding to the second wave of covid-19. The public health challenge in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
- Particular conflicts over common property resources, resource-capture and corruption. Contests and conflicts over natural resources.
- Cases, episodes or developments impacting the environment.
- Misgovernance. Or, good governance.
- Livelihoods and rights of people.
- Functioning of essential services and social security schemes.
- Workings of businesses and economy that impact society, rights and resources.
- Social cooperation and innovation in the face of new challenges.
- Civil and fundamental rights of citizens.
- Evidence-based trends in how our societies are changing.
Eligibility
Journalists who meet the following two criteria:
- Independent journalists not engaged on a full-time basis with any media organisation.
- Journalists who are Indian citizens and residing in India outside the six metropolitan cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Application
For more details and the application form click here
Selection Process
- On the next page we provide details, criteria and a pitch guide for the application. Please read them carefully before filling in the detailed application form.
- An NFI-appointed jury of eminent journalists selects the grantees based on the detailed application. For the fellowships to report in Malayalam, the editorial leadership of Azhimukham and NFI will jointly select fellows.
- Weightage is given to candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Early submissions get additional weightage during the selection process.
- Fellowship grants are announced within 15 days of the application window closing. Successful candidates are informed by email and through announcement on the NFI website.
Fellowship Amount
Each fellow will be granted INR 30,000 to publish one story of 1,000-1,500 words on a broad range of themes and issues of public interest, reported in depth over one month.
For official notification, click below.
NFI Fellowships 2021 for Independent Journalists.
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