Call for Media Proposals to Support Coverage of Development Issues
Media professionals are now invited to apply for funding under the winter round of the Simon Cumbers Media Fund, an initiative of Irish Aid aimed at increasing public understanding of global development issues.
The Simon Cumbers Media Fund was established in memory of the late Irish journalist Simon Cumbers, who was killed in Saudi Arabia while working with the BBC in 2004. The aim of the Fund is to promote more and better quality coverage of development issues in the Irish media and, by extension, to promote a greater understanding of the work of Irish Aid, the Government’s programme for overseas development.
Media professionals and students are invited to submit proposals to cover a development issue, which will involve travel to a developing country. The Fund is open to all media disciplines and encourages proposals that promote positive impressions of developing countries across areas such as health, education, environment, business and sport. Projects that explore the issue of hunger and / or that are relevant to the Millennium Development Goals will be favoured by the judging panel, as will projects that focus on Irish Aid’s partner countries in Africa and Asia.
The deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm on Friday, 16th September 2011.
Two information workshops for media professionals interested in applying to the Simon Cumbers Media Fund will take place over the coming weeks – the first in Dublin on 5th September at the Irish Aid Information and Volunteering Centre, Upper O’Connell Street, and the second in Cork on 6th September at the Clarion Hotel, Lapps Quay.
The Simon Cumbers Media Fund has two funding rounds each year: one in summer and one in winter. Former successful applicants have gone on to travel to – and report on issues in – countries such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Previous Simon Cumbers Media Fund projects have also won and been shortlisted for a number of prestigious awards and festivals, including the Clarion Awards, the PPI Radio Awards, the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival, the New York Festival, the Western Development Commission John Healy Award and the One World Media Awards.
Full details on registering for the Simon Cumbers Media Fund workshops – and on how to apply to the Fund – are available at www.simoncumbersmediafund.ie. For information on Irish Aid, see www.irishaid.gov.ie.
