Water Desk Journalism Fund 2025 (up to $10,000)

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About Water Desk Journalism Fund

The Water Desk will support journalism that focuses on water issues involving the seven states of the Colorado River Basin-Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming-as well as the borderlands of Northwest Mexico.

Proposals related to areas that lie outside of the hydrologic boundaries of the Colorado River Basin's watershed must have a strong connection to water issues in the basin. Because water is intertwined with so many issues, they are open to proposals covering a broad spectrum of topics: climate change, biodiversity, pollution, public health, environmental justice, food, agriculture, drinking water, economics, recreation and more.

• School: The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder

Benefits of Water Desk Journalism Fund

They will be awarding grants of $5,000 to $10,000 to support significant reporting efforts that lead to the publication of content connected to the Colorado River Basin.

Water Desk Journalism Fund Requirements

• Only journalists (freelancers and staff at media outlets) may apply for funding. Proposals from advocacy groups will not be accepted.
• Grantees must complete the work they outline in their proposals within six months of receiving funding.
• Recipients of prior grants from The Water Desk are welcome to apply for funding.
• Journalists and media outlets are welcome to collaborate and submit a joint proposal. Regardless of how many journalists/outlets are part of the application, the cap on these grants is $10,000.

Application Date and Process

All application materials must be submitted to The Water Desk online.

Please visit their Google form to complete the application and submit a single document (8 pages maximum) with the following materials:

1) A summary of the proposed work that includes:

• Narrative explaining the story/project, including its news value, potential impact and importance to water issues in the Colorado River Basin.

• Discussion of how the content will be distributed and the potential audience. For freelancers, please submit at least a letter of interest from an editor at a media outlet. If you don’t have such a commitment, please explain your plan for pitching and disseminating your content, and why your targeted outlet is most appropriate for this project. Projects without a letter of interest or commitment from a publisher are much less likely to be approved.

• Description of what journalistic tools and approaches you will use (e.g., text, photo, video, audio, data visualization, public records, etc.).

2) A proposed budget that explains how the grant will be spent. You may use your own format for the budget, but please break out expenses using standard categories, such as salary, travel, books/reports, data, photos, equipment, etc.

3) A short biography (250 words maximum) of the journalist(s) involved in the story/project.

4) A current resume for the applicant. If a team of journalists is applying, please only submit the project leader’s resume.

5) Links to three relevant work products (stories, projects, photos, videos, etc.) produced by the journalist(s) or media outlet(s).

Questions? Please contact Water Desk co-directors Mitch Tobin ([email protected]) or Luke Runyon ([email protected]).

Application Deadline

16 June, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

View details of Water Desk Journalism Fund

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