PAYK Investigative Journalism Fellowship open [Afghanistan]

Midcareer journalists can apply for this fellowship.

The PAYK Investigative Journalism Centre has launched a fellowship program to support in-depth coverage of issues related to government, accountability and transparency in Afghanistan.

Six journalists will receive US$1,000 each to complete an investigative story within a four-month period.

Applicants must submit a proposal and have past experience in investigative reporting.

The deadline is Sept. 20.

For more information, click here.

Photojournalism contest open [Worldwide]

Photojournalists and multimedia teams can submit their work.

The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar hosts a photography competition. The goal of the seminar is to promote high standards of photojournalism through an annual educational conference and the competition.

All photographs must have been captured (except for picture story entries) between Nov. 1, 2016 and Oct. 31, 2017.

The picture categories are: spot news, general news, feature, sports action, sports feature, portrait/personality, elections, Olympics, news picture story, international news, feature picture story/essay, sports picture story, short-term documentary project, long-term documentary project and multimedia.

There are two types of portfolio entries for this contest: Best Portfolio or Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio. A portfolio entry does not count as entry and is simply a combination of the images entered in the contest categories.

The prizes consist of US$1,000 and a Nikon camera for best portfolio, US$750 and a Nikon camera for first place Rich Mahan Student Portfolio, a Nikon camera and US$500 for Best in Show, and US$100 for each category winner.

The deadline is Nov. 8. The cost to enter is US$49.

For more information, click here.

Grants program accepting applications [MENA]

Journalism and communication students in the Arab region can apply for grants.

The Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS) is accepting proposals for the fifth cycle of its Research Grants Program on the theme “Environmentalism, impoverishment and social justice movements: interdisciplinary perspectives.”

The program seeks to support research across disciplinary boundaries and methodological approaches on key themes of concern to the Arab region.

Grants will be available to individual researchers (up to US$20,000) and teams of researchers (up to US$50,000) whose research focuses primarily on Arab societies.

The deadline is Nov. 20.

For more information (in Arabic), click here.

Bloomberg offers news internship [Australia, New Zealand]

Aspiring financial journalists can apply for an internship.

Bloomberg seeks candidates for a 10-week internship program October in Sydney, Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand. 

Responsibilities include working with editors and reporters to write breaking news stories on national companies, analyzing data to produce compelling chart-driven stories; and interviewing market analysts, company executives and money managers.

Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in journalism and an international mindset as well as strong interest in financial markets.

For more information, click here for the program Sydney and here for Wellington.

Journalist takes Animal Welfare Campaign to Nigerian Schools

For many, especially Nigerians, the word animal safety does not ring a bell but sends cold shiver to anyone who senses that animal cruelty is wrong. Animals should be preserved especially domestic animals although most of them can be easily replaced it is imperative that children have relevant information about animal kingdom and how to care for them.

The humane global concept, is a not for profit organization established for the sole aim of enlightening  the African children between the ages 5 and 19 years on what animal security entails  has taken its campaign to over 200 primary and secondary schools to educate young people about the animal kingdom in Nigeria

Many children are currently aware that animals suffer a great deal in the factories, farms, laboratories as they are processed for nourishment, experiments, cleaning products and cosmetics since a significant percentage of humans depend on animals; researchers have discovered that these animals are kept under deplorable conditions, often dragging themselves through their own excreta, left to suffer horrible untreated wounds, hunger, ear infections among others.

In collaboration with other International bodies, the Humane global concept has initiated campaigns through documentaries and publications from evidence based research that recommends several practices to put an end to animal brutality in Nigeria

As world animal ambassador for Nigeria who has also been featured in the Animal Times Magazine in United Kingdom I urge Nigerian to care for animals and the government at all levels should partner with the non-governmental organisation to fund this project.

Chiemeka Chiedozie, is a journalist and the Project Director, Human Global Concept, Nigeria and Africa