Independent journalists not engaged on a full-time basis with any media organisation.

The following fall into our working definition of ‘independent journalists’:
You are either

A “working journalist”, whose primary vocation and source of livelihood is journalism. But you are not employed on a full-time basis with benefits of a salaried employee by any organisation.
Or,

You are a pass-out from a journalism college and not employed full-time by either a media organisation or any other kind of organisation.

In the current round, we invite applications for stories to be published in print and digital formats in English (15 fellowships) and Marathi (15 fellowships).

The story is reported deeply, evidence-based and well-investigated. The story could be a news-break, a news analysis or a news feature. It could be specific to the region or geography you report. We want to support stories that do not stop at merely reporting an incident or an event but draw these out in the context of larger trends in governance, society and the political economy.

The story could be on one of these themes or on the intersection of these themes. This is an indicative list and not an exhaustive one.

1. The public health challenge in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

2. Conflicts over common property resources, resource-capture and corruption. Contests and conflicts over natural resources.

3. Stories that focus on lives of the most vulnerable.

4. Misgovernance. Or, good governance.

5. Livelihoods and rights of people.

6. Functioning of essential services and social security schemes.

7. Workings of businesses and economy that impact society, rights and resources.

8. Social cooperation and innovation in the face of new challenges.

9. Civic and fundamental rights of citizens.

10. Evidence-based trends in how our societies are changing.

You are expected to complete and submit the story within one month (30 days) from the receipt of the grant.

The expected story length is 1,000-1,500 words. We encourage fellows to also record videos and audio and click photographs. These are used while publishing stories and while reproducing the stories in other multimedia formats

1. Make sure you pitch us more than a raw idea.

2. Do some background work, preliminary reporting and research on story idea to draw it out better.

3. Make sure that the story has not been reported before. Or that it analyses and reports on a known episode, event or process in light of new facts and understanding.

4. Make sure you are confident of accessing evidence to back up and corroborate your assertions in the story.

To apply in the current round, you should have the following ready:

1. Your story idea in English in less than 400 words.

2. Your CV in English in a word or pdf format.

3. One unedited version of your best published work or an unpublished journalistic work of not less than 400 words in MS Word or PDF format.

(Those applying for Marathi Fellowships need to attach/upload their unedited work and story idea in Marathi)

To strengthen your pitch, please consider the following elements in your proposal:

1. The most recent development, event, incident or an emerging trend you want to report on.

2. Explain the context in which the development has happened or is happening (Editors find it easy to review the pitch when it is presented with the right context).

3. Summarise why this development matters, which is to say, why should anyone who consumes this news or analysis care about this development.

4. Give us a sense of what evidence, data or reporting you are already armed with and what else you would gather if you are granted the fellowship.

Q. Can those who have earlier received a NFI fellowship apply for the current fellowship?
Yes, former NFI fellows may apply for the current fellowship. But the jury will give a higher preference to first time applicants.