The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in cooperation with the Association for Responsible and Sustainable Development (ARSD)
and the Hanns Seidel Foundation has announced:
COMPETITION
for writing ten texts/features related to intimidation of, and threats and attacks on female and male journalists
We invite female and male journalists from media outlets registered in Montenegro (national and local), as well as those with correspondents in Montenegro, to apply with proposals for topics they wish to address, addressing and/or problematising violence against journalists, with a clear indication of how the topic of research is intended to be conducted, who could be the potential interviewees, and how this would affect the improvement of the prosecution of cases or the implementation of the recommendations by the Commission for Monitoring Investigations into Attacks on Journalists.
The aim of the competition is to contribute to the fair treatment of cases related to victims of attacks and threats, as well as their families, and to assist in the implementation of the recommendations by the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists.
The texts can be for print editions and online publications, as well as texts that can be used to produce TV or radio segments/programmes.
In order to improve journalists’ reporting in line with new methods and encourage the resolution of cases of violence against journalists, texts must be based on solution-oriented journalism (SoJo – Solution Journalism), i.e., reporting on a solution to a specific problem for which there is evidence that it works, ways of initiating and implementing that solution, and potential explanations about its limitations. Namely, when creating articles, it is necessary to meet four criteria:
- The solution must be the focus of the story
- Explain the problem and offer a proposal that will be realistic, as the emphasis is on the solution.
- What lessons are learned from this solution? What lessons can be learned to repeat this?
- In the texts, report on the problems encountered during the search for a solution.
The proposals for topics will be considered by the Proposal Evaluation Committee and the best ones will be selected, taking into account the representation of different media as much as possible. Only selected candidates will be contacted with details for further cooperation.
The production of texts will be supervised by the editor, and the envisaged fee for a text or feature is €300 gross.
Proposals for topics can be sent to the email drustvoprofesionalnihnovinara@gmail.com with the subject line “Competition for SoJo topic” no later than 15 March 2024, by 4 p.m.
The texts will be published in various media, and on the websites of the SPJ and ARSD, while their key parts will be published on social networks.
The competition “Stories that contribute to solving attacks on journalists” is organised within the project “Effective prevention and protection of journalists in Montenegro,” jointly implemented by the Association for Responsible and Sustainable Development (ARSD) and the Society of Professional Journalists of Montenegro (SPJ) in cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and with the financial support from the European Union (EU) through the Delegation of the European Union in Podgorica.
