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FEJ StoryLog

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The FEJ StoryLog is an occasional column that builds on the public service reporting work made possible through the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Fund for Environmental Journalism program. The column shares how individual FEJ grantees developed their story ideas, pursued their reporting and got their work published, as well as provides lessons learned along the way, and advice for other journalists and grant hopefuls. Read an introduction to the column.

For questions and comments, or to contribute to future FEJ StoryLogs, contact FEJ StoryLog Co-Editors Carolyn Whetzel and Brandi Addison at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

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September 11, 2024

  • Grant Brings Documentary Team to Chesapeake Bay’s Vastness

    New York-based documentarians Sebastian Tuinder and Duy Linh Tu took their multimedia skills on the road to explore the environmental problems plaguing the Chesapeake Bay. The resulting project, “Trouble in the Chesapeake,” was nominated for a local Emmy award and was credited with helping efforts to curb over-the-limit discharges from Maryland’s wastewater plants. Lessons learned from the grant-funded effort, in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

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May 15, 2024

  • Rapid Response Grant Yields Oil Patch Stories, Book Chapter

    Mid-pandemic, freelancer Erika Bolstad struck out from Oregon for the boom-bust Bakken oil fields of North Dakota, with cash from a grant, two story assignments and years of book research. She shares her experience on the road, dealing with COVID risks, tricky timing and a stubborn bureaucracy, as well as a generous well-plugger and supportive editors. Read the new FEJ StoryLog.

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January 10, 2024

  • Neither Pandemic Nor Politics Derailed Grantee’s Trophy Hunting Story

    When freelancer Rachel Nuwer decided to tackle a controversial story about trophy hunting and wildlife conservation she confronted not only tricky logistics and demanding field work, but last-minute publication conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic. But with a grant and an understanding editor, she got her clip and a new commitment to continue covering similarly challenging topics. Nuwer shares her experience in the new FEJ StoryLog.

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September 13, 2023

  • One Grant, Multiple Stories

    Seattle-based correspondent Brett Walton has a habit of adding extra days to his reporting schedules. In this FEJ StoryLog, Walton shares how he used one such buffer to stretch a grant and produce not just one story on California’s small drinking water systems, but a second on the aftermath of wildfire on another town’s water system, plus finish a third pending project on household water debt.

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May 17, 2023

  • Grant Prompts Improved Coverage of Indigenous Perspectives at Bears Ears

    Inspired by a discussion at a Society of Environmental Journalists conference, freelancer Rico Moore (pictured, left) applied for a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant to report on Bears Ears National Monument. Then, armed with advice for better covering Indigenous communities and Native American tribes, Moore found a new way to write about the cultural and environmental richness of those lands. His experience, in the new FEJ StoryLog.

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January 25, 2023

  • Determined Grantee Weaves Together Unique Project on Ash Trees, Wetlands and Baskets

    When the global pandemic interfered with independent journalist Gabriel Popkin’s plans for a grant-funded biodiversity reporting project on the emerald ash borer, an invasive pest threatening ash forests, he came up with a surprising solution. In this FEJ StoryLog, Popkin shares how he worked around travel shutdowns and subsequent story pitch rejections to ultimately discover an alternative storytelling option to keep his project alive.

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November 2, 2022

  • Documentary Tells of Human, Environmental Toll of Unexploded Ordnance

    A film by reporting duo Jerry Redfern and Karen Coates — supported by a grant from the Society of Environmental Journalists — shows the ongoing human and environmental harm of the unexploded U.S. bombs and other ordnance dropped on Southeast Asian villages during the Vietnam War. “Eternal Harvest,” which builds on their earlier book on the topic, was made painstakingly over years, and in the latest FEJ StoryLog, the couple explains their process and storytelling approach.

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July 27, 2022

  • Grants Uncover Downside of Wood Stoves, Water Subsidy Impacts

    When a young Ohio-based journalist found her interest piqued by the environmental impacts of wood-burning stoves, she turned — for a second time — to the Fund for Environmental Journalism. Her grant helped her dig deeper and, ultimately, produce a report for Undark. Reporter Diana Kruzman shares her experience with both FEJ-funded projects, along with advice for other grant seekers, in the new StoryLog.

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April 20, 2022

  • Grantee Wades Into Surprising Blue-Green Algae Problem

    A chance encounter with a social media post from a retired government official led environmental journalist Sharon Oosthoek on a virtual, pandemic-era journey deep into the waters of Lake Superior to chase down an algal bloom. In her contribution to FEJ StoryLog, Oosthoek shares how she leveraged the tip into a grant that allowed her and her TV channel partner to produce a multi-part text, video, engagement and teaching project.

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January 12, 2022

  • Grantee Suits Up To Ask If Honeybees Harm Native Species

    When Colorado-based freelance journalist Jennifer Oldham suited up in protective gear to investigate if commercial honeybee hives on public lands impact native bee populations, as well as to meet with federal scientists and visit a bee study site, it was a Fund for Environmental Journalism grant that helped her do it. Oldham shares her experience and advice in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

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