SIGN-UP to the Connect-World Development News eBulletin (includes details of other media awards)

Workshops for applicants took place on 9 September, 2008
Listen to audio from the workshops...

Upcoming Deadlines 2009

TV Grant '09	Wednesday 15 April 2009 5pm
Standard Grant Round I '09	Thursday 30 April 2009 5pm
Standard Grant Round II '09	Wednesday 30 September 2009 5pm

Aims & Purpose

The Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund is funded by Irish Aid*. It is a grant scheme aimed at assisting and promoting more and better quality media coverage of development issues in the Irish media. The fund is adminstered by Connect-World. Full details can be found below and in the links in the left hand menu.

*The views and perspectives expressed in programming, articles or other material supported through the Fund are the responsibility of the individual grantee and his/her publisher. They are produced without editorial control by the Fund and should, in no circumstances, be considered to reflect the views of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Background to the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund

Simon Cumbers was 36 when he died. He was murdered by terrorist gunmen while filming a report for BBC Television News in Saudi Arabia. The attackers opened fire on Simon and his colleague, BBC correspondent Frank Gardner, in a suburb of Riyadh in June 2004. Simon died at the scene and Frank was seriously injured.

Simon was an experienced journalist and cameraman with an insatiable curiosity about the world and what happened in places thousands of miles away. He wanted to make a difference by telling the stories that needed to be told and his camerawork gave him that opportunity.

From his home in Navan, County Meath, Simon’s career took him from newspaper and radio reporting in Ireland to work as a television correspondent with Channel 4 and ITN in the UK before retraining to become a news cameraman.

He filmed and edited reports from every continent. Whether it was the Amazonian rain forest or the African desert, civil unrest in Indonesia, earthquakes in Turkey, India and elsewhere, or shivering in the Falklands, there were few places Simon hadn’t been. He was also accomplished in business, running his own newsgathering and production company, Locum Productions, with his journalist wife, Louise Bevan.

In 2005, a little over a year after Simon’s tragic death, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan TD, in close consultation with Simon’s wife and family, decided to establish the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund in his memory. In October 2006, Connect-World took over the management of the fund.

In October, 2007, Simon Cumbers (posthumously) and Frank Gardner were awarded the Shaikh Zayed Medal by the United Arab Emirates.

Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund in the Irish Journalist April 2008 edition

Connect-World’s Lorraine Whitty has been interviewed about the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund (Listen), ICR FM and Dublin City FM, August-September, 2008.

Themes & Topics 

The themes and topics eligible for funding should centre on international development and the challenges faced by developing countries.

While not exclusive, themes and topics addressed could include: globalisation, poverty, education, health, migration, nomadic peoples, environment, women and development, international trade, democracy, governance, agriculture, refugee flows, sustainable development, war and conflict, local development, HIV/AIDS and the role of aid. Because all projects are intended for an Irish audience, they should demonstrate an Irish link.

The projects should explore how one or more of these themes affect communities both here in Ireland and in developing countries, with a particular focus on Africa. They should focus on the issues or on those most impacted, not on the outside provider of support/change/aid.

Applicants should be aware of the briefing and support which would be available from Irish Aid for projects about Programme Countries.

What Types of Project are Eligible

• All projects to be considered under either grant type must be new
• Projects must deal with one or more themes of global development, such as those outlined above
• For the broadcast media (radio, television and new media) under both grant types all genres of programmes are eligible for funding. (e.g. we will accept applications for factual, documentary, news or current affairs, drama, animation, children’s, educational, sports programmes etc. – provided they deal with one or more of the themes of global development)
• Programmes may be one-off programmes of any length or may consist of multi-episodes (series or serials)
• Programmes may be targeted towards the general public or towards a very specific audience (e.g. children)

The treatment of themes should be as creative as possible. They should have wide appeal or else applicants should be able to demonstrate that the project would have a very strong impact on a particular audience.

The Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund should provide real added value, and be used, as far as possible, to make the difference between a project seeing the light of day and failing. Ultimate audience figures are very important but not the absolute arbiter, because sometimes a project can have a bigger impact on a smaller, more targeted audience.

Attention should be paid to the future use of material, across other platforms, in addition to the medium in which it is first published.

Who can Apply?

Standard Grants

Applications will be accepted from local/national/community radio stations, independent radio producers, photographers and photo journalists, freelance and staff journalists, newspapers, and new media producers.

Joint applications are encouraged, for example, between photographers and print journalists.

TV Production Seed Grants

Applications will be accepted from independent production companies, directors, producers and broadcasters. The deadline for the next round will be in 2009. Date to be confirmed.

Partnerships 

NGOs may not apply. Projects may not feature or promote the work of individual NGOs, although, clearly, the issues dealt with by NGOs are an appropriate topic. It is however acceptable to receive support, either logistical or financial from agencies, and for this to be acknowledged.

Projects on interculturalism in Ireland, as such, are not eligible – unless they clearly support understanding of international development.

Applicants Workshop

A Workshop for applicants took place on Tuesday 9 September, 2008 (Programme). Information from the 2008 workshop will be posted to this site shortly.

The workshops introduce participants to a range of development issues and provided information on how to make an application for funding. 2007 Workshop Notes

Apply

Applications for the Standard Grant need to be accompanied by a letter of Agreement to Broadcast/Publish. Also, if the grant requested exceeds €6,350 applicants need to submit a Tax clearance Certificate.

Download Application Forms

Previous Successful Projects

View some of the work by past recipients of the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund in 2007, 2007, 2005-6, 2003-4 and recipients of Irish Aid grants prior to 2003.

Further information

Information Leaflet (PDF)

Background Information (PDF)

Codes of conduct have been developed to guide media producers in covering (development) issues in an ethical way. These are: the NUJ Code of Conduct, the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images & Messages (a code for NGOs rather than journalists), and 'Reporting on Refugees: Guidance by and for Journalists'. Applicants are encouraged to become familiar with them.

For additional information contact:
CONNECT-WORLD, 10/13 Thomas Street, Digital Hub, Dublin 8
T: 01 4806222 E: mediafund@connect-world.net