Latin American colleagues!

We’re issuing a new call for proposals for Historias Sin Fronteras — this time for cross-border projects on the conservation of biodiversity.

This is a great opportunity for cross-border teams of journalists to report on multinational projects that support the conservation of biodiversity in Latin America, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.

According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), around 60 percent of global terrestrial life and diverse freshwater and marine species can be found in Latin America and the Caribbean. Protecting Latin America’s biodiversity is key to meeting global climate goals and collaboration among scientists and governments in our countries will be critical to achieving that objective.

The winning team will receive a grant of US $3,000 to provide financial support for their project.

We know your project on collaborative efforts to conserve biodiversity will have global appeal and we are committed to placing your excellent work in prestigious publications throughout the Americas.

In November 2022, Earth Island Journal  in the United States published our Historias Sin Fronteras project on fluoride pollution in Mexico and Argentina due to lack of government regulation of large companies whose operations have significant socio-economic impact.

In May 2022, Hakai Magazine in Canada published our Historias Sin Fronteras project on an international dispute created by an avalanche of garbage flowing down the Motagua River from Guatemala to the Honduran coastline.

In June 2021, National Geographic Brazil published our Historias Sin Fronteras project on President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans to build an international highway through the most biodiverse region of the Amazon.

In all, 43 news organizations in countries throughout the Western Hemisphere have published the outstanding Historias Sin Fronteras projects produced by Latin American journalists. (Check out our Home Page to see all the organizations that have published work by Historias Sin Fronteras journalists.)

Join us and let’s work as a cross-border team on this exciting Historias Sin Fronteras project!

To give you some background on our organization, Historias Sin Fronteras is an initiative launched in 2019 by InquireFirst in partnership with co-founder Iván Carrillo and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

InquireFirst is a non-profit 501c3 journalism organization founded in 2016 in San Diego, California, that organizes Spanish-language professional workshops for Latin American journalists and offers reporting grants for journalists throughout the region.

We invite you and your Latin American colleagues to join the Historias Sin Fronteras team and propose a cross-border project on conservation of biodiversity.

Each team must be made up of a minimum of two and a maximum of four journalists from different countries in the Americas. Teams that do not reflect a diversity of countries will be disqualified.

The deadline is September 25, 2023

Your proposal should reflect in sufficient detail the outline and angle of your project. A completed questionnaire is required. The questionnaire can be found below this text.

The project will be edited by Iván Carrillo, an experienced science journalist and editor based in Mexico. There will be a calendar for editing, as well as a non-negotiable deadline. The winning team agrees to comply with the editing and publication schedule for the project. As many corrections and modifications will be made as necessary during the editing process.

The project will be presented to editor Iván Carrillo in Spanish and our experienced team will translate the project to English and Portuguese.

Eligibility

The Cross-Border Scientific Journalism Project is open to any journalist who works for or frequently collaborates with a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online media organization in Latin America. Journalists working at media organizations and freelance journalists are eligible to apply. Those who work in public relations positions or who are institutional spokespersons are not eligible to apply for a Cross-Border Science Journalism grant.

To ensure credibility and fairness, an international panel of judges will select the winning team in each category. The decision of the judges will be final.

Credit

The winning team agrees to credit the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and InquireFirst in all publications and communications where the project is mentioned.

Distribution

Cross-border science journalism projects will be published by media organizations in Latin America and the United States. Editor Iván Carrillo and Project Coordinator Lynne Walker will work with a variety of media organizations to ensure projects have the widest possible distribution.

HHMI may also post projects for educational purposes on the Institute’s Biointeractive website.

Applications must include the following

• A completed questionnaire that describes the project. You can find a link to the questionnaire below this text.

• A budget that does not exceed US $3,000 and includes a basic breakdown of costs related to reporting on the project. The budget may also include compensation for journalists working on the project.

• A biography of each journalist on the team, with a maximum length of 300 words per biography.

Deadline

The deadline for proposals for projects on conservation of biodiversity is September 25, 2023. The winning project will be announced in early October.

Questions?

Email Lynne Walker