The Knight-VICE Innovators Fund Is Now Open for Applications

Starting today, journalists have a chance to make their most exciting pitch yet — one that could change the shape of media and help deliver stories that really matter.

VICE Media, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and the Knight Foundation have teamed up to create a new innovation fund that will provide seed money to journalists with big ideas.

How will the world be consuming news in the next 5, 10, or 20 years? This is a key question that applicants will need to ask themselves while developing specific story pitches with clear goals and deliverables. If chosen, journalists will receive a share of the $500,000 fund to bring their idea to life.

Awardees will infuse creativity and journalistic know-how into their chosen project — which could involve cutting-edge investigative techniques, inspired new reporting methods, innovative technologies to present data, or whatever will break new ground — both in the field and in the newsroom.

Finalists, handpicked by a panel from the three organizations, will also have the opportunity to advance and test their projects in a newsroom and classroom setting. For up to three months, awardees will have the opportunity to spend three days a week at the VICE News office and two days a week at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, with full access to reporters and students to support the development and distribution of their work.

"Providing new avenues for journalists and others to engage people around news and pressing issues that affect communities around the world is essential to pushing the field forward," said Jennifer Preston, Knight Foundation Vice President for Journalism. "The Knight-VICE Innovators Fund was developed with this in mind — it will serve as a path for news providers to take advantage of new storytelling tools in the digital age, update their skills, and ensure that innovation in reporting is the norm."

Applicants can visit this page for more information and to apply for the program.

The deadline for the first round of applications is June 8.