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Upcoming Deadlines:

Standard Grant Round I	Wednesday 30 April 2008 5pm
Standard Grant Round II	Tuesday 30 September 2008 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.

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  

Eligible Themes & Topics

Broadly, the themes and topics eligible for funding should centre around international development and the challenges faced by developing countries.

While not exclusive, the 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.

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.

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)

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 are not eligible to apply. However, applicants for both grant types may work in partnership with different international development or development education organisations.

However applications that seek to promote the work of any one organisation or are of a campaigning nature will not be considered.

Applicants Workshop

Connect-World hosted workshops on Tuesday 18 September at the Mercer Hotel to help applicants prepare an application for the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund. The workshops introduced participants to a range of development issues and provided information on how to make an application for funding. NEW: 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, 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 please email mediafund@connect-world.net or telephone Lorraine at (+353) 1-480 6222.