The Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, and the EFE Foundation call for twenty scholarships for regional environmental journalism. The objective of this initiative, which is being launched for the second consecutive year by both entities, is to promote the practical specialization of young journalists in environmental information.
This initiative, which will last one year, will allow twenty young students in the final year of journalism or graduates in 2007 and 2008 to begin their professional career producing specialized information during 2009.
The EFE delegation in Galicia, with two scholarships, together with the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Ceuta, Extremadura, La Rioja, Madrid, Melilla, Murcia, Navarra, the Basque Country and Valencia, will welcome the twenty selected in this second call, who will receive a scholarship endowed with 900 euros per month.
Previously, those selected must pass a theoretical-practical course in which experts in ecology and sustainable development, together with the best professionals in Spanish environmental journalism, will transmit some of the keys to this informative specialty.
With the II Scholarships for Specialization in Environmental Journalism, the Biodiversity Foundation and the EFE Foundation intend to contribute to filling a gap in the field of journalism specialized in the environment, contributing to training rigorous professionals, capable of providing the keys to an increasingly complex field of information. It is also a matter of promoting the exercise of environmental communication at the regional level, considered the closest to citizens, since more and better information will result in greater awareness in society.
A jury made up of representatives of Fundación Biodiversidad, Apia and Agencia EFE will select the candidates from the different universities of Information Sciences in the State. The deadline for submitting applications opens today, December 1, and ends on December 31, 2008.
The Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, is a non-profit organization of a foundational nature, whose activity is developed in the field of conservation, study and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as international development cooperation. The EFE Foundation has been contributing for years to the training and specialization of new journalists and for more than 15 years EFE has been committed to specialized environmental information with a Science and Environment section in its national newsroom.
Those interested in obtaining more information can consult the bases of this call on the website www.fundacion-biodiversidad.es
