Deadline: January 9, 2026
Applications are open for the EJN Extreme Weather in the Philippines Investigative Reporting Fellowship 2026. Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) as part of its Asia-Pacific Project supported by Sida, has launched a new fellowship for journalists the Philippines, including a three-day investigative reporting workshop, story grants and mentorship.
The initiative seeks to strengthen the capacity of national and regional journalists to report on adaption measures and to hold government and corporate entities accountable for their actions—or lack thereof—related to extreme weather preparedness, disaster risk reduction and use of public funds.
Story Themes
They welcome story ideas that focus on, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- Financial accountability: Tracing the allocation, spending and impact of national and local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds. Where is the money going, and is it building resilience?
- Infrastructure effectiveness: Investigating the functionality and cost-effectiveness of large, climate-resilient projects (e.g. sea walls, flood controls) during major extreme weather events and uncovering sub-standard engineering or corruption.
- Preparedness & policy gaps: Scrutinizing the gap between official climate action plans, cross-agency coordination mandates and real-world implementation when extreme weather strikes.
- Ecosystem collapse: Identifying environmental degradation that aggravates the impacts of extreme weather, and linking deforestation, illegal mining and coastal degradation (mangroves/coral reefs) to the increasing severity of landslides and storm surges.
Benefits
- They expect to award up to 12 fellowships with a budget of P118,000 each.
Eligibility
- They will accept applications from journalists based in the Philippines with a minimum of two years of professional journalism experience and who have demonstrated prior reporting on environmental, climate or governance issues.
- The fellowship is open to journalists working in any medium (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with investigative reporting experience and a history of covering environmental issues. They encourage applications from freelance reporters and staff from all types of media organizations—international, national, local and community-based.
- Journalists should submit a clear, original and executable investigative story proposal focused on accountability for extreme weather preparedness. The proposal must outline a viable path to driving positive change.
- Applicants must provide a signed letter of commitment from a news organization or publisher guaranteeing publication or broadcast of the final investigative story.
- Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, to revise their proposals. EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, submitting AI-generated content as their own.
Judging Criteria
Applicants should consider the following points when devising their story proposals.
- Relevance: Does the proposal meet the criteria and objectives of the call? Why does this story matter and to whom? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?
- Angle: If the story has been covered, does your proposal bring new insights to the topic or offer a fresh angle?
- Reach: Does the proposed media outlet have a wide reach? Journalists publishing their work at outlets that typically restrict content behind paywalls are encouraged to secure commitments to publish from additional outlets or request an exception to ensure their EJN-supported story remains accessible to audiences.
- Impact: Does the proposal have a compelling narrative or investigative element that will inform and engage, draw attention, trigger debate and spur action?
- Innovative storytelling: The use of creative approaches, multimedia and data visualization will be considered a plus.
- Plan for timely publication: Reporters, whether freelance or employed at a media outlet, will need to include a letter of support from an editor in their application, committing to publish the stories by end of May 2026. No extensions will be granted.
Application
For more information, visit EJN Fellowship.
