Journalists invited to write on Islam and other religions

Deadline for applications: September 1.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington, D.C. invites print and TV journalists from the United States or from majority Muslim countries to propose reporting projects on issues of importance to audiences in both places.

Applicants whose projects are selected will be paired with a reporting partner from another country and will receive funding through ICFJ.

Each of the four pairs of journalists selected will attend the “Faith in Media: Improving Coverage of Islam and Other Religions” conference, to be held December 14 to 16 in Istanbul, Turkey. Projects will be discussed and refined at the conference.

Pairs will have several months to conduct reporting together and will be encouraged to collaborate on the writing of the stories, but they are not required to publish or broadcast identical stories. The conference and the reporting projects are sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Reporting projects that explore issues in Islam and other religions are encouraged, but other topics will also be considered. Ability to work in English is required. All expenses for the conference and the joint reporting projects will be covered, but ICFJ cannot pay participants’ salaries.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Lorenzo Natali Prize for journalism

Application Deadline: June 30

Journalists who have covered democracy, human rights and/or development can enter the Lorenzo Natali Prize for journalism, in honor of the now deceased former vice-president of the European Commission in charge of cooperation and development policies.

Print, online, radio and TV journalists are invited to submit an application, including one journalistic work or an extract of a series of journalistic works that has been printed or aired between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

In 2007, more than 1529 journalists from 165 countries participated. Fifteen award winners were selected by an independent jury, made up of NGO representatives, leading journalists, and news agency representatives.

In the words of Louis Michel, Commissiorner for development and humanitarian aid, "The Natali Prize was created in 1992 by the European Union so as to promote quality journalism and to remind the memory of the dedication of Lorenzo Natali, former vice-president of the European Commission in charge of cooperation for the development between 1985 and 1989. His work and personal commitment very much contributed to increase the importance of the cooperation policy for the development in the European Communities of that time."

For further details and submission of the application click here.

The Bastiat Prize for Journalism 2008

Deadline Date June 30, 2008

The Bastiat Prize, named behind the 18th-century French philosopher and journalist Frederic Bastiat has been announced. This prize was developed to encourage and reward writers whose published works promote the "institutions of a free society": limited government, rule of law brokered by an independent judiciary,
protection of private property, free markets, free speech, and sound
science. The prize (a total of US$10,000) will be awarded to one or
more authors. The Prize is open to all writers, anywhere in the world;
writers need not be associated with any specific publication.

Entries, which should take the form of one or more published articles,
are judged according to their intellectual content, the persuasiveness
of the language, and the type of publication in which they appeared.
Articles must be in English and should not exceed 4,500 words,
published between July 1 2007 and June 30 2008, in recognised news
publications. Finalists will be invited to a ceremony in New York, NY,
United States, in October 2008, where winners will be announced.

The deadline for application is June 30 2008.

Application Information
Click here for more information and the rules of submission.

Entries can be submitted through the online entry form or by email,
fax, or post using the contact information below. Submissions by fax,
post, or email must include a Bastiat Prize Submission Form, available
through the link above.