APPLY NOW: The Global Shining Light Award

Every two years, the Global Investigative Journalism Network presents the Global Shining Light Award, a unique award which honors investigative journalism in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.

The winner receives an honorary plaque, US$1,000, and a trip to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference to accept the award in front of hundreds of their colleagues from around the world.
Deadline for the next award is May 1, 2015, for stories published or broadcast between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014.

The application form with guidelines is here. Online submissions are strongly preferred. Applications should be emailed to shininglight@gijn.org. If you need to send hard copy, mail it to: Global Shining Light Awards/GIJN, Pozsonyi Way 10, 2nd floor 8 door, Budapest 1137, Hungary.

If submissions are in languages other than English, you must provide a detailed English-language summary of a print or online story, or an English-language transcript of a broadcast script.

Background

Each year dozens of journalists and media workers are killed – and hundreds more are attacked, imprisoned or threatened – just for doing their job. Many of these violations of free expression occur in developing or emerging countries, and quite often during military conflicts. There are a number of international awards recognizing such attacks on freedom of expression.

But there is another clear trend that emerges in analyses of global attacks on reporters and the media. More and more journalists are being killed, and media outlets attacked, because they are carrying out important efforts in investigative journalism – exposing uncomfortable truths, shining light on systematic corruption, and providing accountability in societies yearning for democracy and development. There are as many journalists killed each year covering crime and corruption as are killed covering wars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

On behalf of the global investigative journalism community, GIJN is pleased to recognize and celebrate these courageous investigative journalists and their work. The winner receives an honorary plaque, US$1,000, and a trip to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference to accept the award in front of hundreds of their colleagues from around the world.

Criteria

The journalist, journalism team, or media outlet provided independent, investigative reporting, which:

• Originated in and affected a developing or emerging country
• Was broadcast or published between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014;
• Was of an investigative nature;
• Uncovered an issue, wrong-doing, or system of corruption which gravely affected the common good;

• And did so in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, or threats and intimidation

Application must include the following:

1. Title of story or series, as well as all names, contact information for people who worked on the project. For a partnership or collaboration, please name each entity that took part in the investigation.
2. Date(s) and country(ies) story/series was broadcast or published.
3. Electronic link to story (if possible), and PDF or .doc file of the story/series.
4. Topic and synopsis of story or series, including major findings (must be in English).
5. List the significant documents, materials, and sources used. Did you have difficulties obtaining information? If so, how did you resolve it?
6. Did you need to run a correction or clarification on the report? Did anyone challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
7. What were the results/impact of the reporting?
8. Explain how this story done under done under threat, duress, or in difficult conditions.
   Did you face arrest, imprisonment, violence, threats, harassment, or censorship?