Keira Butler (photo credit: Mother Jones)

October 3, 2011 — The Society of Environmental Journalists announces 10 grants totaling $14,886 for winning journalism projects in the Summer 2011 cycle (July 15, 2011 deadline) of SEJ’s Fund for Environmental Journalism. Congratulations to:

Adrianne Appel, West Medford, MA, USA, $1,336 for travel costs to produce a story in multimedia on the environmental impact of the fish industry in Florida

Kiera Butler, San Francisco, CA, USA, $2,500 for travel costs to conduct a comprehensive journalistic investigation into environmental and health implications of global mining of rare earths, resulting in print and online news series

Lorie Hearn (Executive Director) and Watchdog Institute at San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies, San Diego, CA, USA, $1,000 towards travel and web development costs to produce public broadcasting and online journalism on water scarcity and the impact on water quality of pollution, sewage and land development in the U.S. and Mexico

Colleen Kimmett, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, $850 for travel costs to produce published articles for Pacific Northwest print journals and websites on the topic of hydroelectric development in British Columbia, currently 95% of electricity source, as glaciers melt

James F. Robbins, Helena, MT, USA, $2,000 for travel costs to produce print and online journalism on the ecology of emerging infectious disease around the world

Steven Douglas Rubin, University Park, PA, USA, $1,700 for travel costs to produce a documentary for print and online media on the topic of wind, land and power transformation in the Heartland

Molly Samuel, San Francisco, CA, USA, $1,000 for editing and audio engineering costs to produce a radio documentary and blog on species endangerment due to habitat destruction in California

Sarah Terry-Cobo and Center for Investigative Reporting, Oakland, CA, USA, $1,500 for editing and animation costs to produce a video series on environmental-news websites about externalized costs of everyday objects used by people around the world

Stefano Valentino (photo credit Flickr: Global X)

Stefano Valentino, Rome, Italy, $2,000 for travel costs to conduct investigative reporting on the Kyoto Protocol and scandal in the global carbon market, resulting in a multimedia story for print and online news sources

Lee van der Voo and LVDV Enterprises, Inc., Portland, OR, USA, $1,000 for travel and information-access costs to produce a magazine story on the topic of grassroots activism around herbicides in Oregon

These grants for winning projects have been made possible by scores of gifts from individual members and friends of SEJ and by generous underwriting of $25,000 provided by the Grantham Foundation. SEJ planners are reaching out to new donors all the time so that future rounds of the FEJ can support more winning projects and at higher grant levels. Donor inquiries are welcome. Contact Beth Parke, SEJ executive director, at bparke@sej.org, 215-884-8174.

The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) launched the FEJ in 2010, to support reporting projects and entrepreneurial journalism ventures related to the environment. For the first time SEJ began awarding small grants to both staff and freelance journalists, to cover costs of travel, lab testing, graphics development, website costs, and other budget items without which journalists might have been unable to produce and distribute specific timely stories about important environmental issues.

SEJ’s application deadline for the Winter 2011 cycle is November 15, 2011. Decisions will be announced approximately 60 days after the deadline. Winning projects receive grants of $350 to $3,500. To learn more about the FEJ awards program, including applicant eligibility and submission guidelines, or to see information and links about past awards, please go to the Fund for Environmental Journalism web page. 

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