EJN Media Grants to Support Coverage of 30x30 Marine Conservation Targets 2025

EJN Media Grants to Support Coverage of 30x30 Marine Conservation Targets 2025

The Earth Journalism Network (EJN), a project of Internews, offered this media-grant call to support reporting and journalist training about progress toward the global 30x30 marine conservation target. The official opportunity page says the 2025 application window is closed. It does not announce a later deadline or a new cycle, so this page is a historical reference rather than an open application listing.

The original call was published on January 8, 2025. Its deadline was February 7, 2025, at 11:59 PM Pacific/Niue. EJN anticipated awarding two organizations US$10,000 each. The official timetable expected successful applicants to be notified in March 2025, begin work in April, and complete projects within six months, by the end of October 2025. Those dates describe the completed 2025 round and should not be treated as a current route to funding.

At a glance

What the 2025 call supported

The grant was designed for in-depth and enterprise reporting, journalist training, and related work that would increase the quality and quantity of media coverage about the 30x30 target. The target comes from target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework. According to EJN’s description, more than 190 countries committed in December 2022 to effective protection and management of 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland-water, coastal, and marine areas by 2030.

EJN described a reporting problem behind the call. News organizations and journalists, especially in low- and middle-income countries, may not have the resources or specialist knowledge needed to cover ocean policy, marine protected areas, fisheries, enforcement, and conservation finance. A project could therefore combine reporting with training, provided that the plan clearly connected the grant to concrete media work and public-facing results.

The official page listed several possible themes. Applicants could examine government commitments to 30x30, the regulations being developed, and the money being spent. They could investigate whether proposed or existing marine protected areas were effective, including whether harmful fishing practices were regulated. Other possible angles included the influence of transnational fishing fleets and the global fishing industry, the involvement of Indigenous and local communities in protected areas that overlap traditional territories, and the use of satellites, remote sensing, environmental DNA, or artificial intelligence in marine protected-area management. National and international policy negotiations and instruments were also within scope.

EJN said it was particularly interested in cross-border, solutions-journalism, and investigative approaches. That preference did not turn the grant into a general climate or conservation award. A credible proposal needed to show how a media organization would report, train, publish, or otherwise communicate on the 30x30 marine target.

Eligibility for the archived round

The applicant had to be a newsroom or media organization based in a coastal country with a marine border. EJN’s definition of media was broad enough to include newspapers, online media, radio, television, multimedia platforms, journalist networks, collectives, and other groups that produce and distribute news and information. The key test was the organization’s media function, not simply its interest in environmental issues.

Countries with only a freshwater coast were not eligible for this marine-focused call. A team working on lakes or rivers therefore could not qualify merely because it had an environmental reporting program. Applicants needed to connect their proposed work to marine areas and to the 30x30 conservation target.

Civil-society organizations, academic institutions, NGOs, and environmental groups were excluded when they did not fit EJN’s definition of a media organization. Proposals centered on advocacy or political campaigning were also not considered. A newsroom could report on policy, accountability, community participation, or enforcement, but the project needed to remain journalism or journalist training rather than a campaign seeking a political result.

Former EJN grantees could apply, and EJN said the performance of former grantees would be considered during selection. An organization with an existing EJN grant was not eligible for this call. Applicants also had to be transparent about any use of generative AI to revise their proposals. The page warned that unethical or improper professional conduct, including presenting AI-generated content as the applicant’s own work, could lead to disqualification.

Applications had to be submitted in English. This is narrower than the language claim previously attached to this page. EJN said applicants needed either a working understanding of English or a translator who could assist with communication with Internews staff. The eventual project content could be produced in whatever language best suited the intended audience.

Grant amount, budget, and project period

EJN anticipated supporting two organizations with grants of US$10,000 each. The amount was a ceiling for the request: budgets greater than US$10,000 were not accepted. Every applicant had to provide a detailed budget using EJN’s template and explain why the requested costs were necessary for implementation.

Equipment was an allowable part of a budget, but only when the applicant explained how it would contribute to expected outputs. EJN also said equipment should represent a relatively small share of the overall budget. That means an applicant could not treat the call as a general equipment purchase. The budget needed to make the connection between spending and reporting or training visible.

Co-financing was permitted and encouraged, but not required. If an applicant had received co-financing, the application needed to identify both the amount and the source. A sensible budget would therefore separate grant-funded costs from other support and show how all of the resources fit the proposed work plan.

The official timetable expected notification in March 2025, work to start in April, and projects to finish within six months, by the end of October 2025. Since the application window and project period have ended, these dates are useful for understanding the completed round only. They do not establish a recurring annual schedule, and the official page does not provide a successor deadline.

How applications were submitted in 2025

The archived instructions directed applicants to use the Apply now button at the top of the EJN opportunity page. Applicants with an existing account had to log in. New applicants had to choose the sign-up link after selecting Log in. The instructions also explained that a draft could be saved and later reopened by returning to the opportunity and selecting Apply now again.

The application required a detailed budget in an Excel spreadsheet, with justification for the amount requested. Applicants were told to download the budget template from the opportunity page and keep supporting documents available because they would be uploaded during the application process. Questions or submission problems were directed to the email address listed on the official page, rather than to another Internews contact.

For a future EJN call, a media organization could use this archived process as a preparation checklist: confirm that it has a marine-coastal base, define a reporting or training project tied to 30x30, prepare an English-language application workflow, assemble a realistic budget under the published ceiling, and gather supporting documents before opening the form. None of those preparations should be mistaken for an invitation to submit to this closed 2025 page.

How proposals were evaluated

Applications were reviewed and discussed by a panel of international judges consisting of Internews staff and environmental-journalism experts. The published criteria covered the overall quality of the proposal; its relevance to the grant program’s objectives and priorities; the potential impact and quality of the project design; the innovative characteristics of the activities; financial viability and cost-effectiveness; the applicant’s ability to carry out the work; and the geographical spread of the grantees.

Those criteria point to the type of proposal EJN wanted. A strong application would make the reporting question specific, identify who would do the work, explain how information would be checked, and show what audiences would receive. If training was included, the proposal should say which journalists would be trained and how that training would improve the resulting coverage. If equipment or travel was requested, the budget should explain the direct contribution to the outputs.

The geographic criterion did not replace the basic coastal-country rule. It meant that selection would consider the distribution of supported organizations, while every applicant still had to meet the marine-border and media-organization requirements. Similarly, “innovative” did not mean adding technology for its own sake; a new method needed to improve reporting, training, verification, or public understanding of the target.

Publication rights and acknowledgment

The official page stated that Internews’ EJN, its partners, and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation would receive rights to edit, publish, broadcast, and distribute grantees’ stories freely. Applicants considering a future call should read the current rights language rather than assume that a later program will use identical terms.

Outputs produced through the grant also had to disclose EJN support using this tagline: “This project was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.” The requirement applied to published stories, resources, or other outputs produced as a result of the grant. It was part of the delivery obligations for the archived 2025 round, not a substitute for the separate application and eligibility requirements.

Current status and next step

The official EJN page labels the opportunity Application closed. The verified page retains the February 7, 2025 deadline and describes the March notification period, April start, and end-of-October completion target for that round. It does not announce a new 30x30 media-grant cycle. This record is therefore marked historicalReference = true and should be used to understand the program and prepare for a possible future announcement, not to submit after the deadline.

If EJN publishes another call, recheck the official page for the new deadline, award count, amount, geographic wording, application language, required documents, budget template, rights terms, and application portal. A future round may change any of those details. Until then, the official Earth Journalism Network page above is the controlling source for the closed 2025 opportunity.