The Nova Media Fellowship supports print, broadcast, and digital journalists proposing to immerse themselves in the health field and complete media projects that acknowledge and explore the many factors that promote well-being, prevent disease, contribute to healing, and increase an individual’s ability to flourish and live a fulfilling life.
Donor Name: Nova Institute for Health
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Fellowship
Deadline: 05/28/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The 2024 Media Fellowship award is $100,000 over 12 months, with up to an additional $7,500 reimbursed for travel expenses per Nova’s travel policies. The award is intended to support a Fellow’s living expenses, project-related expenses, conference fees, health insurance, etc. They will separately cover costs associated with attending Nova Institute-organized meetings, workshops, or events. The fellowship does not fund enrollment for degree or non-degree study at academic institutions.
Project Focus
Applicants for the Media Fellowship have considerable latitude in determining the focus of their proposed projects. All proposals, however, should show an appreciation for the multitude of factors, at many levels, that affect health and thriving, and connect the dots between these factors to take a broad view of health. Proposals should resist reductionist approaches or a narrow focus on a single issue that is unconnected to a wider context. Proposals should when possible take a solutions journalism approach that demonstrates rigorous, evidence-based reporting on responses to social (and health) problems. Ideally, the work could help key audiences — from clinicians and nonprofit and business leaders to policymakers and advocates — recognize the multiple factors that affect health and adopt practices and policies in response.
- Mental Health and Emotional Well-being
- NOVA is in the midst of a growing, global mental health crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already significant mental health decline and a staggering increase in “deaths of despair” from suicide and drug and alcohol use. Psychological stress is rising in young people, with increasing pediatric mental health diagnoses and acute care hospitalizations. A loneliness epidemic underscores growing disconnection from themselves, the communities, and the natural environments. The climate crisis magnifies persistent inequities and threatens lives and livelihoods worldwide.
- For these reasons, the Nova Institute has a particular interest in mental health and emotional well-being. They encourage proposals that address or examine mental health, using a science– and evidence-based approach, and how mental health and emotional well-being connect to personal, community, and planetary health.
- Health Inequities
- Long-standing, inadequate, and harmful social, economic, and environmental conditions and systems have had an adverse impact on individuals’ health and created significant inequities. The Nova Institute welcomes projects that recognize and/or examine the political, historical, and social dynamics that have led to health inequities experienced by the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community and people who are medically underserved such as refugee, migrant, and immigrant populations; people with disabilities; etc.
- Transdisciplinary and Inter-Sectoral Approach
- To understand the many factors that affect health and well-being, and the intertwined connections among them, they champion a transdisciplinary approach and encourage projects that tap the expertise of multiple disciplines. Compelling projects may also explore the current or potential role of various sectors—e.g., public, business, medical, and education sectors—in advancing or undercutting health.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ideal applicants are full-time journalists with established records of publication or broadcast in local, regional, or national markets or among targeted audiences or constituencies and have relevant full-time experience. Proposals may cover international issues and involve international travel, but in 2024 they are accepting applications from U.S.-based journalists only.
- Society and the medical community have long ignored systemic racism, economic injustice, and other factors that affect health and hurt marginalized groups. They believe that these voices must be heard and should be involved in the work, and they strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, or other members of other historically marginalized communities.
For more information, visit Nova Institute for Health.
