Newry Local News Fund now live for applications

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: Columba O'Hare; Category: News; Published: 30 May 2024

Kayley Curtis, Newry Coordinator, Local News Funds and Sameer Padania, Director, Local News Funds pictured at the launch of the Newry Local News Fund at Ballybot House, Newry on 28 May. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

Applications are now open for the very first Newry Local News Fund, a Public Interest News Foundation (PINF) initiative that aims to support young journalists between the ages of 16 and 25 as well as help local news outlets. The inaugural fund has up to £15,000 available. The application process has been made as simple as possible and you need to apply by 17 June.*

Chris Kent 30 October and Blondie Tribute 28 December @ Canal Court Hotel

The Newry Local News Fund is the result of a year and a half's groundwork that began in November 2022 with a meeting of a broad selection of community and business representatives in Ballybot House in the city. The fund was appropriately launched at a function in Ballybot House on Tuesday 28 May where Project Director Sameer Padania and Newry Co-ordinator Kayley Curtis explained the idea behind the fund and how it will work.

In this first round, it will offer support to two kinds of beneficiaries within the Greater Newry area:

Young Journalists

Young journalists (16-25) from Newry and surrounding areas, facilitating pathways into local journalism in Newry either to prototype an idea of their own, or to help to create meaningful opportunities for them to work with an existing local outlet, including for 'reverse mentorship'

Local news outlets

Local news outlets Print, digital, audio, video or otherwise, aiming to enhance their business operations, sustainability or diversity, whether applying singly or in partnership. Applicants must be locally-based, locally-owned and/or locally-focused, and they must be members of IMPRESS, IPSO, ICNN or similar industry or professional bodies with clear ethical codes.

What can the Fund support?

Pictured at the launch of the Newry Local News Fund are from left: Paul Welsh, Journalist; Raymond Jackson, Confederation of Community Groups, Kayley Curtis, Newry Coordinator, Local News Funds; Sameer Padania, Director, Local News Funds; James Magowan, European Community Foundation Initiative and Mary Magowan. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

The £15,000 funding has been generously provided by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and applications that aim to achieve the two following outcomes are welcomed. These are just some examples of the types of idea the fund might consider, but applicants are free to propose an idea that isn’t listed here!

1: Help improve the business operations, sustainability or diversity of local journalism or media organisations (whether individually or jointly), such as
- engaging a part time finance person to help improve the efficiency of the business
- an initiative to encourage more local residents to subscribe or donate to one or more local news outlets
- local media outlets collaborating on negotiating better collective advertising rates
- targeted audience research to understand the needs of underserved audiences in the area

2: Help open new pathways for young journalists (16-25) to contribute to the relevance and growth of journalism in the Newry area, such as
- prototyping a new locally-focused news brand for the Newry area
- creating part-time roles for young people from the Newry area within existing publications
- finding ways to incentivise and increase youth voice and coverage in and about the Newry area

The Fund also welcomes applications that involve creative ideas about how funding might used by applicants to leverage other funding, revenue or pro bono/low bono/in-kind support within the local community.

Any individual, organisation or group of individuals/organisations may submit more than one idea for consideration, but a maximum of two of these ideas may be taken forward to the final selection panel.

What will the Fund not support?

Please note, however, that while the Newry Local News Fund is open to a wide range of creative ideas, the Fund cannot support applications that are focused solely or primarily on:

- production of specific editorial content or reporting (e.g. "I would like to do a series of stories on topic X")

- conducting training (e.g. "I propose to train local young people in how to do news reporting.")

- replacing or upgrading equipment (e.g. "I need a new microphone/camera/laptop.")

If you have any questions about the process and timelines, in the first instance, please take a look at this blog post. If you have further questions, please email Kayley Curtis or Sameer Padania.

Thank you for your interest, and good luck! Remember to submit the form by June 10th.

To apply or to find out more click on Newry Local News Fund

Applications need to be made by 5pm on Monday 17 *June.

* Edit - deadline extended to 17 June