Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

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OVERVIEW: The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supports journalism on underreported issues of broad impact in the U.S. and around the world. Recent areas of interest include the environment, technology, health and equity for marginalized people around the world.  

IP TAKE: The Pulitzer Center describes itself as “the largest single source of money for global enterprise reporting—and the only one incorporating this reporting into comprehensive educational programs.” This funder supports individual journalists and media organizations as well as journalism and media education at every level. Journalists working in print, photography and broadcast media, as well as projects that combine multiple forms of reporting, are eligible for awards, and several programs prioritize collaborative work and facilitate the engagement of journalists from the developing world with major news organizations. Other grants support journalists and organizations that serve communities lacking comprehensive coverage of local issues. The center also funds a series of fellowships for students and early-stage professionals and offers lesson plans, workshops and other educational materials for K-12 students and educators. 

Pulitzer accepts applications for all 14 of its grant and fellowship programs, which are generally awarded in set amounts. While funding is accessible, it is competitive. Grants for professional journalists are generally accepted on an ongoing basis, while fellowship programs name specific due dates throughout the year. Grant and fellowship amounts are not exceptionally large, usually remaining under $20,000, but Pulitzer is an important source of funding for early-stage professionals and small community news organizations. The center also maintains a database with links to its funded projects, offering grantees additional opportunity to share and broadcast their work. 

PROFILE: The Washington D.C.-based Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting was founded in 2006 by John Sawyer, a former Washington bureau chief for St. Louis’s Post-Dispatch and a three-time recipient of the National Press Club’s award for best foreign reporting. According to its mission statement, the center “raises awareness of underreported global issues through direct support for quality journalism across all media platforms.” Its current programs support international and local journalism projects and prioritize journalists from groups that are underrepresented in the media, including women, minority groups and journalists in developing nations. The center also runs fellowship programs for college journalism students in the U.S. and a range of K-12 programs and curricula for writing, media and civics education.

Nota bene: This organization is not affiliated with Columbia University’s Pulitzer Prizes. 

Grants for Journalism

The Pulitzer Center awards grants to staff journalists, freelance journalists, assignment editors and news outlets to “support in-depth, high-impact reporting” on topics of global, national or local importance, with a strong focus on stories that are not likely to be covered by the mainstream media. In addition to print journalism, grants have supported individuals and media outlets working in photography, broadcasting, video, documentary film and combined media. The center’s current offerings include the following grants and fellowships, organized here by topic area: 

Grants for Global Development, Security and Human Rights

Global Reporting Grants support projects on topics of global importance by journalists who can provide evidence of “commitment from news outlets with significant reach to publish or broadcast their work.” Priority is given to projects that have the potential to “appear in multiple outlets” and those that “combine print, photography, audio, and/or video.” Grants generally range from $5,000 to $10,000 and are based on “reasonable, detailed budgets” submitted by applicants. One recent grant supported journalist Rawnaa Al-Masry’s work on the purification of drinking water in rural villages in Egypt for InfoNile. Another grantee, Jon Cohen, wrote about competing COVID-19 vaccine dosing plans for Science Magazine. 

The Pulitzer Center recently established a grantmaking initiative to support reporting on the War in Ukraine. Grants “support in-depth, underreported stories related to the Ukraine invasion” and its impact in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Pulitzer prioritizes applicants and projects demonstrating “the appropriate balance of experience, safety training, language skills, and reporting project plans and details.” The center accepts proposals for this program, but freelancer must provide evidence of “a firm assignment from outlets agreeing to take full responsibility for your safety and well-being.” Funding from this program may support “Hostile Environment Training.”

A third global program provides grants for Underreported Stories in Sub-Saharan Africa. Grantmaking focuses on projects that have the potential to reach wide audiences and “inform behavior and policies that improve the lives of the communities reported on.” Areas of specific interest have included WASH, environmental conservation, education, health and “climate resilience.” Pulitzer accepts applications from journalists working in print, radio, television and video media, as well as documentary film makers. Recently funded projects have been published and/or broadcast by international media outlets including Al Jazeera and Science magazine, as well as African publications like The Continent and Premium Times.

Grants for Civic and Democracy

One of Pulitzer’s newer programs supports reporting on Threats to Democracy in the U.S. Grants support “data, investigative, and accountability journalism projects that tackle systemic issues and hold to account powerful local figures.” The Pulitzer has expressed specific interest in topics including “voting suppression; misinformation and disinformation; intimidation of election officials; politicization of election systems; political violence; dark money; and extremism/militias” but does not limit grantmaking to projects concerning these areas. In addition to financial support, grantees of this program are provided with publicity support in the form of “educational materials” and events.

Grants for Environment, Marine and Freshwater Conservation, Climate Change and Clean Energy

Support for work that addresses environmental and climate change issues represents a large portion of the Pulitzer Center’s grantmaking. Opportunities include the following programs:

Deep Dives: Ocean and Fisheries Reporting is a grant program that supports projects by freelance and staff journalists that concerns “the complex web of challenges facing oceans and fisheries.” The program funds quality, in-depth projects that address issues including but not limited to fish supply chains, forced labor, sustainable fishing practices and “thriving coastal communities.” Recently funded projects have been published by media outlets including the Associated Press, CNN, the Carolina Public Press and Fortune. This program also aims to “develop a global cohort of journalists dedicated to surfacing vital underreported oceans and fisheries stories.”

The Your Work/Environment initiative supports journalism that addresses “climate change and its effects on workers and work.” Currently, the program is prioritizing projects in Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America, as well as issues that concern “the world’s most vulnerable workers,” including women, factory workers, agricultural workers and day laborers. Grants have also supported reporting on corporate decision-making, labor and environment policy and “consumer choices.” Funding is open to journalists working in print, broadcast, digital and film-based media. The program prioritizes “innovative storytelling that can be shared across platforms and in multiple languages” and projects that “can be completed, including publication, in one-four months.”

Launched in 2018, the Rainforest Journalist Fund supports environmental reporting and regional conferences about deforestation and its relationship to global climate change. Funding prioritizes projects that address issues that are underreported in U.S. media. The fund’s sub-programs include: 

  • The Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund, which supports journalists or organizations based in the Amazon region and working for either local and regional or major North American and European outlets with grants of up to $7,500. 

  • The Congo Basin Journalism Fund, which supports journalists and organizations in the Congo rainforest region and works for either local and regional or major North American and European outlets with grants of up to $7,500. 

  • The Southeast Asia Rainforest Journalist Fund, which supports Indonesian journalists and Indonesia-based news organizations working for either local and regional or major North American and European outlets with grants of up to $7,500. 

  • The Global Audience Rainforest Journalism Fund supports “journalists reporting for major news outlets” in other parts of the world with grants of up to $7,500. A majority of grants from this program support journalists working in North America or Europe and reporting in English.

Pulitzer’s Rainforest Investigation Fellowships, meanwhile, support journalists who wish to participate in the center’s Rainforest Investigation Network, which facilitates “cross-border collaboration to tackle stories at the intersection of climate change, corruption, and governance in the world’s three main tropical rainforest regions.” Fellowships are awarded to one experienced journalist in each of the three main rainforest areas—the Amazon, the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia—and one journalist specializing in environmental journalism “at a major global media outlet.” Rainforest Fellowships are full-time, one-year commitments and carry the expectation of regular, collaborative publications that are driven by research and data. The fellowship covers journalists’ salaries and other work-related expenses incurred during the fellowship year.

The Connected Coastlines Grants program supports journalists and organizations who wish to participate in “a consortium of newsrooms and independent journalists across the U.S. to report on the local effects of erratic weather patterns on coastal populations using the latest climate science.” The program aims to increase coverage of stories about “every coastline in the U.S.,” including the East Coast, the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, the West Coast, Alaska and Hawaii.” Journalists and organizations “with a plan to publish or broadcast their climate stories with a newsroom based in a U.S. coastal state or region are eligible to apply. Grants range from $2,000 to $8,000. 

Grants for Women and Girls

Pulitzer’s Gender Equality Grants program supports journalistic projects that address “gender equality and the empowerment of women & girls.” The program prioritizes “data-driven” work and stories of underrepresented communities. Recent grantees of this program have had work published by outlets including the Nation, Cronicas Migrantes, Amazon Frontlines and the New Yorker.

While it is not limited to women applicants, Pulitzer prioritizes women journalists for its Persephone Miel Fellowships, which aim to support “journalists from outside the U.S. and Europe” and to bring their work to international audiences. The fellowship includes participation in a two-day workshop at the Pulitzer Center in Washington, D.C. Grants are generally awarded in the amount of $7,500, which includes travel stipends. 

Grants for Journalism Education

Pulitzer’s Campus Consortium Reporting Fellowships provide opportunities for journalism students from participating colleges and universities to partner with faculty advisors and pursue journalistic projects on underreported issues of global importance. Topics have included, but are not limited to climate, refugee crises, health, racial equity, human rights and democracy. Similarly, the center’s Post Graduate Reporting Fellowships support the work of graduates of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism pursuing projects on underreported issues around the world with financial support and mentoring.

Grants for Global Health

Pulitzer launched its COVID-19, Vaccines and Global Health Disparities grantmaking program in response to the pandemic crisis, but has continued to support journalism that covers “underreported stories about COVID-19 inequities and other U.S. and global health system failures.” Available to both independent and staff journalists, this initiative names as areas of interest “systemic barriers” to healthcare and “misinformation and politicization that impede improved access to care and preparation for future health crises.” The program page offers detailed guidelines for application, as well as examples of past funded projects. The work of past grantees has been published and/or broadcast in outlets including GhanaWeb, Religion News Service and Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil.

Other Grantmaking Opportunities in Journalism

Several of Pulitzer’s journalism grant and fellowship programs do not fall into the above subcategories. These include three separate opportunities for journalists working in the areas of technology, AI and digital rights and access. These include the following grantmaking programs:

  • Data Journalism Grants support journalism projects that “employ cutting-edge data techniques.” Examples of data techniques of interest include “machine learning, natural language processing, as well as spatial data analysis, satellite imagery, drones and sensors.” The program currently prioritizes projects that are “based on original data collection and analysis and strong visuals, that has the potential to shape public discourse and hold the powerful accountable.” Examples of funded projects are linked to the program page and have been published and/or broadcast via media outlets including Buzzfeed, Al Jazeera, Frontier Myanmar and Grist, among others.

  • Similarly, Machine Learning Reporting Grants support projects that employ “advanced data mining techniques, such as machine learning and natural language processing, to solve a data or reporting problem related to a journalistic investigation.” Specifically, the centers seeks to support projects in which machine learning increases the capacity of journalists to “tackle big data and systemic issues.” Applicants must be transparent about data collection or mining methods. This program prioritizes work that is collaborative “across newsrooms or disciplines.”

  • Pulitzers AI Accountability Fellowships are 10-month commitments through which journalists work to “broaden, deepen, and diversify reporting on artificial intelligence with an accountability lens.” Applicants must “apply with a reporting project they wish to pursue during their Fellowship.” While Pulitzer intention is to support a broad range of AI accountability projects, it has recently emphasized specific topics, including “the intersection of AI and conflict, war, and peace,”and “the role the messaging platform WhatsApp plays in influencing public discourse in a particular community.” Fellowships consist of up to $20,000 in monetary support and monthly virtual meetings with Pulitzer staff and other fellows.

Pulitzer is currently piloting a initiative for investigative journalism that dives deeply into the issue of Science Misinformation. This program accepts applications for journalistic projects “related to science misinformation, science denial, and the spread of pseudoscience.” The program page also expresses the center’s interest in “journalistic approaches to identifying and addressing the scourge of scientific misinformation and disinformation.” Still in its earliest stages, Pulitzer has yet to refine its approach for this work, and encourages applicants to “propose ideas related to science and misinformation that most resonate with your audiences and communities today.”

Pulitzer collaborates with Diversify Photo to award the annual Eyewitness Photojournalism Grant. This opportunity supports BIPOC, non-western and other underrepresented photojournalists from around the world engaged in projects that “break with the predominately colonial and patriarchal eye through which history and the media have recorded the images of our time.” Applications for this program are generally due in late June, and the program page offers detailed guidelines and examples of past funded projects.

Bringing Stories Home: Local Reporting Grants is Pulitzer’s “investment in local news, providing resources to cover stories that might not otherwise get told.” Limited to news organizations in the U.S. In addition to financial support, this program provides newsmakers with organizational and strategic support, including the development of related educational materials, events and online publicity. This initiative prioritizes “data, investigative, and accountability journalism projects that tackle systemic issues and hold to account powerful local figures.” Recent grantee partners have included Investigate Midwest, Maine’s Bangor Daily News and WBEZ Radio in Chicago.

Each year, the Pulitzer Center also awards a single Richard C. Longworth Media Fellowship in partnership with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to a Midwestern journalist engaged in international reporting and whose work has the potential for broad dissemination in Chicago and the Midwest. Journalists working in print, online and broadcast media are eligible to apply, and applicants may request additional funding to cover travel expenses related to their work. 

Finally, the center’s Breakthrough Journalism Award consists of a $10,000 prize for the outstanding work of a current or past Pulitzer-affiliated journalist on an underreported issue of broad impact. 

Grants for K-12 Education

The 1619 Project Education Network supports annual cohorts of educational professionals, including teachers at prisons or youth detention facilities, as the explore “key questions of racial justice and other pressing issues.” Selected participants will receive grants of $5,000 to support their work developing “learning units” and and other curricular materials and sharing their work and experiences with the 1619 learning community. Participants also gain access to workshops and “a virtual portal that shares curriculum, showcases student work, and provides methods for participants to network and collaborate.”

Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowships provide teachers of grades 4-12 with a paid opportunity to participate in an on-line collaborative program to “develop short units (three–ten class periods) that engage their students in making local connections to global news, practicing media literacy skills, and building empathy.” Stipends consist of three payments of $400, paid at intervals throughout the school year.

Important Grant Details: 

The Pulitzer Center gave away around $6.5 million in grants and fellowships in a recent year. Grants are generally awarded in set amounts and vary by program. The center prioritizes collaborative work, underserved communities and the reporting of underreported topics of global or national importance. Examples of funded projects are linked to individual program pages.

The Pulitzer Center accepts applications for all its grant programs. Independent journalists, filmmakers and photographers, as well as newsrooms and news organizations in the U.S. and abroad are all eligible for funding, although eligibility varies by program. Many of its reporting grants programs accept applications on an ongoing basis, but fellowships usually post specific due dates during the year. See program pages for detailed guidelines and eligibility requirements. General inquiries may be directed to the center’s staff via email or telephone at 202-332-0982. 

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