Celebrating Excellence in Journalism

The U.S. Embassy in Cameroon announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to identify and celebrate, such as through an award ceremony, examples of high-quality journalism in Cameroon. Please carefully follow all instructions below.

Program Objectives: 

·      Promote ethical, high-quality journalism in Cameroon by bringing positive attention to examples of excellence in the profession and recognizing best practices being observed.

·      Encourage journalists practicing high-quality journalism to continue doing so.

·      Raise awareness with the public and among journalists about what high-quality, ethical journalism looks like.

·      Provide role models for other journalists, especially younger generations and journalism students, who demonstrate through their work that it is possible to practice high-quality journalism in the challenging Cameroonian context.

This grant will fund an award ceremony or other program for journalists, bloggers, and media houses in Cameroon. The awards may cover different topics of reporting, including but not limited to: democracy, human rights, corruption/governance, health (non-Coronavirus topics), COVID-19, regional security, gender issues, press freedom, and environment (e.g. illegal mining, poaching, etc.).

The grantee must establish clear criteria by which stories will be evaluated that represent accepted industry standards of excellence, quality journalism, and ethics while performing their duties. We seek to promote journalism for the purpose of informing and educating citizens to be effective and active members of society. The grantee must also establish a process for the selection/nomination of stories for consideration and the selection of a credible panel of judges (which may consist of Cameroonians and Americans) to choose which ones will be recognized. 

The following types of activities are not eligible for funding:

·      Scholarships for study in the United States or to fund conference attendance or study tours to the United States

·      Activities that are inherently political in nature or that contain the appearance of partisanship

·      Construction activities

·      Programs that support specific religious activities

·      Fund-raising campaigns

·      Cash prizes for participants

Participants and Audiences:

The work of any Cameroonian journalist (print, broadcast, or online), including professional bloggers, who are working in Cameroon is eligible for consideration within this grant. All types of journalism should be included in a representative fashion. Younger journalists and journalism students are the primary audience for the program objectives, although the work of journalists of all ages should be evaluated to find the examples that best represent journalism excellence in Cameroon.

Length of performance period: 4 to 8 months

Number of awards anticipated: 1 award

Award amounts: awards may range from a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum of $25,000

Total available funding: $25,000

Type of Funding: FY20 Smith Mundt Public Diplomacy Funds

This notice is subject to availability of funding.

Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement. Cooperative agreements are different from grants in that embassy staff are more actively involved in the grant implementation. 

Program Performance Period: Proposed programs should be completed in 8 months or less. 

Non-profit media organizationsCommunity and civil society associationsProfessional trade organizations with a journalism or communication nexus**All applicants must be American and/or Cameroonian.**