The Pulitzer Center, an organisation that raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms, is inviting journalists and newsrooms to submit proposals that spotlight underreported issues affecting African communities, including water, sanitation, education, maternal health, and climate resilience. The grants support ambitious reporting that aims not only to inform but to drive change at the community and policy levels.
The Centre is especially interested in projects that reach the people most affected by the stories and that influence behaviour or policy. Recent grantees have produced powerful work on the effects of fast fashion in Lesotho, coastal erosion’s impact on fishing communities in Ghana, gold laundering in Uganda, and the global food security threats linked to COVID-19, climate change and the war in Ukraine, reporting that ran in outlets, including Science, Al Jazeera, and leading African publications.
The programme funds journalism across various platforms, including print, photography, audio, video, and documentary, and favours projects that combine formats or add interactive and multimedia elements through partnering news outlets. The Pulitzer Centre looks for data-driven, investigative, and accountability journalism that exposes systemic problems and holds powerful local actors to account. Applicants are encouraged to plan creative distribution strategies so reporting reaches the communities that need it most.
The opportunity is open worldwide to freelance reporters, staff journalists, newsrooms, and collaborative teams. The Centre strongly encourages applications from journalists and organisations representing underrepresented racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds, and it values teams that reflect the communities they cover.
Applicants will be asked to submit a concise project description (maximum 250 words), a preliminary budget with a basic cost breakdown, and a distribution plan with letters of commitment from news outlets.
Note that there is no fixed budget cap; therefore, projects of any scale are considered, and proposals that include reasonable costs for contractors (data researchers, illustrators, visual designers) are welcome. The Centre prefers that news organisations pay freelancers; however, in exceptional cases, stipends may be considered if clearly justified in the budget.
The Centre does not fund books, feature-length films, staff salaries, routine breaking news, or the general operating costs of an outlet. Equipment purchases are generally excluded, though rentals may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Projects strictly for academic research or advocacy/marketing campaigns are also ineligible. Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis, and applicants are typically notified within one to two weeks if their submission is being considered.
For additional guidance or questions, prospective applicants may contact the editorial team at reacheditorial@pulitzercenter.org
For more information, please visit: http://pulitzercenter.org/grants-fellowships/opportunities-journalists/underreported-stories-africa.
