Deadline: June 16, 2025

Applications are open for the Water Desk Journalism Fund 2025. The Water Desk will support journalism that focuses on water issues involving the seven states of the Colorado River Basin—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming—as well as the borderlands of Northwest Mexico.

Proposals related to areas that lie outside of the hydrologic boundaries of the Colorado River Basin’s watershed must have a strong connection to water issues in the basin.


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Because water is intertwined with so many issues, they are open to proposals covering a broad spectrum of topics: climate change, biodiversity, pollution, public health, environmental justice, food, agriculture, drinking water, economics, recreation and more.

Grant

  • They will be awarding grants of $5,000 to $10,000 to support significant reporting efforts that lead to the publication of content connected to the Colorado River Basin.

Eligibility

  • Only open to journalists (freelance and staff) and media outlets.
  • Based in the United States.
  • The Water Desk is interested in supporting a wide variety of media and journalistic approaches: newspapers, magazines, websites, video, television, radio, podcasts and other channels.

Application

The deadline for applications is Monday, June 16, 2025, at 11:59 pm Pacific.

Complete the application and submit a single document (8 pages maximum) with the following materials:

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  • A summary of the proposed work that includes:
    • Narrative explaining the story/project, including its news value, potential impact and importance to water issues in the Colorado River Basin.
    • Discussion of how the content will be distributed and the potential audience. For freelancers, please submit at least a letter of interest from an editor at a media outlet. If you don’t have such a commitment, please explain your plan for pitching and disseminating your content, and why your targeted outlet is most appropriate for this project. Projects without a letter of interest or commitment from a publisher are much less likely to be approved.
    • Description of what journalistic tools and approaches you will use (e.g., text, photo, video, audio, data visualization, public records, etc.).
  • A proposed budget that explains how the grant will be spent. You may use your own format for the budget, but please break out expenses using standard categories, such as salary, travel, books/reports, data, photos, equipment, etc.
  • A short biography (250 words maximum) of the journalist(s) involved in the story/project.
  • A current resume for the applicant. If a team of journalists is applying, please only submit the project leader’s resume.
  • Links to three relevant work products (stories, projects, photos, videos, etc.) produced by the journalist(s) or media outlet(s).

Click here to apply


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For more information, visit Water Desk Journalism Fund.

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