BIRN Launches 2012 Balkans Journalism Fellowship

Experienced journalists from across the Balkans are invited to apply for the sixth annual fellowship programme, which will focus this year on investigations on the theme of community.

Ten journalists will be chosen, through open competition, to receive funding and professional support for further research into an investigative story on this year's topic- community.

Applicants are encouraged to consider the theme in a broad sense, looking at different groupings - political, economic, national, gender, generational - and the relationship between them.

Journalists might examine the rural to urban movements that have put stress on villages across the Balkans in recent years, or look at how well cities have absorbed this influx of young people looking to improve their prospects.

Investigations might look into the political representation of communities across the Balkans, or examine communities which find themselves on the margins because of the state they call home. What efforts have been made to build bridges between different communities in the war-torn former Yugoslavia?

Fellows are expected to deliver investigative stories of no more than 2,000 words, and will receive a €2,000 bursary, up to another €2,000 for travel and research expenses and will attend career development seminars in Vienna and Skopje.

In addition, the top three articles, again judged by an independent committee, will attract awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.

Completed articles will be published in English and local languages in regional and European online and print media.

Remzi Lani, director of the Albanian Media Institute and a member of the programme’s selection committee, described the fellowship as “a success story”.

“Publication of the fellows’ articles in the most important media in the region and internationally is certainly clear proof that this project is a worthy venture - an opportunity that should not be missed,” he said.

The closing date for applications is March 5, 2012. The application form, guidelines and further information about the fellowship are available online.

The fellowship was established in 2007 by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, to promote journalistic excellence and advance balanced coverage of complex reform issues that have regional and European Union significance.