Experienced journalists across the Balkans are invited to apply for the seventh annual Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.
To apply, read or download the following:
- About the fellowship
- Application form 2013 [download Word document]
- Guidelines [download Word document]
For this year’s programme, we encourage applicants to consider the theme of Integrity. We expect the best proposals to put some of the broad ideas evoked by the theme into sharp focus.
We also expect applicants to reflect on the role society plays in their stories. It is ultimately the relationships between people that makes politics and other processes interesting.
Ensure you think about your story’s significance not just in your home country, but also in at least one other regional state and within the European Union. Choose phenomena that are relevant and current.
Journalists selected for the fellowship by our independent committee will receive a €2,000 bursary and up to another €2,000 for travel expenses. They will also be expected to participate in career development seminars in Vienna and the region.
Completed articles will be published in English and other languages in the regional and international media.
In addition, the top three articles, again judged by an independent committee, will attract awards of €4,000, €3,000 and €1,000.
Journalists who have taken part in the fellowship say it has developed their skills and extended their expertise to other countries.
“I am grateful that the fellowship programme allowed me to carry out an in-depth investigation on a subject matter I had been researching for a long time,” says 2012 Fellowship winner, Sorana Stanescu. “The best part was the opportunity to work with a very scrupulous editor, an experience you rarely get in the Romanian media and that can only enhance one’s storytelling.”
The fellowship programme aims to develop and support Balkan journalists reporting on complex reform issues. It was established by the Robert Bosch Stiftung and ERSTE Foundation in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.