SPJ Sigma Delta Chi awards, deadline Feb 9

Journo award season continues with the SPJ awards, deadline Feb 9. Details HERE and below.

-mia
+++++++++++++++++++++++

SPJ Sigma Delta Chi awards

Enter by Feb. 9

 

The deadline for this year's Sigma Delta Chi national journalism awards, from the Society of Professional Journalists, is fast approaching. These awards recognize the best professional journalism in all types of media. The contest is open to any U.S. media outlet.

Online media categories include: reporting (deadline and non-deadline), investigative reporting, column writing, specialized journalism site, digital media presentation and public service.

Learn more and enter now

Deadline: Feb. 9
Entry fee: $60 (SPJ members), $100 (non-members)

The Narrative Arc – Storytelling Journalism Goes Digital, workshop March 23-25, Boston

Super cool narrative storytelling workshop for the digital age. Boston, March 23-25. Early bird discount $150 until Feb 19. Details HERE and below.

-Mia

+++++++++++++++++++++

The Narrative Arc: Storytelling Journalism Goes Digital
March 23 – 25, 2012
Boston University

http://www.bu.edu/com/narrative/

The twelfth in a series of narrative journalism conferences celebrates and
explores narrative non-fiction journalism – a powerful, unfettered,
public but individually-voiced genre – as it expands into digital media.

Targeted at practitioners, teachers, and early and mid-career writers and
editors, the conference will cover print, radio, podcasts, web-based
multimedia, dedicated apps, and documentary film, with keynote talks,
breakout sessions and skills workshops.

Masters of the craft will share their know-how, alongside many of the
founders and innovators in the vanguard of digital narrative journalism.

Confirmed Speakers Include:

Jay Allison
Maria Balinska
Lisa Biagiottiis
Roy Peter Clark
Chris Daly
David Finkel
Alex Gibney
Adam Hochschild
Michelle Johnson
Mary MacGrath
Tracey Minkin
Amy O'Leary
Kara Oehler
Evan Ratliff
Jan Schaffer
Dean Starkman
John Tayman
Mitch Zuckoff

‘Future of Radio’ Panel Discussion in SF, Feb. 2 (W/Nikki Silva, Glynn Washington, and more!)

Wish I could be at this FREE SoundCloud meetup. Feb 2, 510 Treat Avenue, SF. Details and link below.
-Mia
++++++++++++++++

Hey everyone-

Wanted to let you all know about a fun panel discussion we're putting together for next week. Feel free to spread the news to your Bay Area friends! It's free, so come join us!

Details below, find more info here:
http://www.meetup.com/All-About-Sound/events/49064192/

February 2nd, 2012

Join us for an evening of lively discussion, as some of the Bay Area's most respected radio-veterans give us their perspective on where the industry is today, and where it's headed tomorrow.

Panel Moderator: Jim Colgan – former WNYC producer and Head of Media at Mobile Commons

Panelists:

Larry Magid – Tech-analyst CBS Radio, KCBS San Francisco, and tech-writer for The San Jose Mercury and CNET.com

Nikki Silva – of the Peabody award-winning duo The Kitchen Sisters

Glynn Washington – Creator and host of PRX and NPR's Snap Judgment

Ian Hill – KQED's Online Community Engagement specialist

Schedule:

6:45: Arrive for refreshments, networking

7:00: Panel discussion begins

8:15: Q+A, open discussion

9:00: End of program. Networking and ping-pong

Any questions? Feel free to contact me off-list at evan@soundcloud.com

See you there!

online Fundraising Proposal/Grants Writing Workshop February 4, socal OR online

I don't know much about this online fundraising seminar for filmmakers but it looks interesting. Rate ranges from $75-150. I'd love feedback from anyone who attends.
Details HERE and below.
-mia

+++++++++++++++++++++

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
REGISTRATION FOR THE WINTER 2012 SEMINAR IS NOW OPEN, PLEASE REGISTER
BELOW!
Film Grants and Proposal Writing 101 with special section on Social
Media & Crowdfunding – now also ONLINE!

SPECIAL BONUS: The filmmakers resources CD (containing filmmakers
funding sources lists/contacts domestic and international, sample
proposals, industry contracts and much more)!

(EARLY REGISTRATION SUGGESTED [VERY LIMITED CAPACITY DUE TO NEW ONLINE COMPONENT])
Overwhelmed by an upcoming grant/media fund deadline? Don't know
how to begin to gather your materials? Or do you just want to start
making your own projects and need to write a funding proposal? If so,
this workshop is for you. This workshop will introduce you to the
preparation, organization and submission of a successful grant
proposal/package to foundations, donors/prospects and film funds.

Most proposals/packages can increase their possibilities of funding if
done properly. Many mistakes are oversights that could be avoided. Our
facilitator will lead you through the basic steps and general overview
needed to complete a successful grant-writing campaign and/or a film or
television project proposal sharing her years of experience in the
field. Participants are encouraged to engage in the learning process by
bringing their upcoming proposals to follow along, ask questions and
seek limited personalized assistance after the workshop.

You will also get an overall overview of the industry and what you will
need to know when preparing to present your projects to a funder.

What you will get: a general overview of how to prepare your
grants/proposals and the job of fundraising/presenting your film to
prospects as well as a comprehensive list of SOURCES of funding and
their contact information to save you time and money.

This is an intensive seminar so make sure you are rested and free from
distractions as there will be a lot of information covered and virtually
no breaks.

Open to all.

Suggested Materials:
* Laptop computer preferably with a word processing and spreadsheet
program (you can download a whole productivity suite comparable to
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) for free at
www.openoffice.org (you can make a donation to the developers there if
you so desire to do so).

* Journal/notebook.

* Your own proposals/grants application/s.

* A sweater/jacket/coat in case you need it.

* Sack lunch.

* If taking the class online (Firefox browser, Skype downloadable at
www.skype.com, headphones and a webcam [optional], the latest version of
Flash downloadable at www.adobe.com and quicktime at www.apple.com)

Date:

February 4, 2012

Time:

Tentatively 10 AM – 6 PM (1/2 lunch break)

Bring your sack lunch.

Place:

*Southern California (Location to be arranged upon registration by consensus and majority)

*or ONLINE via webconferencing service (Firefox browser and audio required, webcam optional)

VISIT THE WEBSITE FOR REGISTER, FOR INFORMATION ON THE TOPICS COVERED OR
TO REACH US: http://www.filmmakerseminars.com

High Country News seeks multimedia pitches

Great news from High Country News – now accepting freelance pitches!! Details HERE and below.
-mia

+++++++++++++++++++++++

HIGH COUNTRY NEWS SEEKS VIDEO AND AUDIO PITCHES

 

High Country News, a Colorado-based nonprofit newsmagazine, seeks pitches for compelling video and audio stories. High Country News has been around for over 40 years, and is known for its independent, in-depth, award-winning coverage of environmental, natural resource and cultural issues.

Our coverage area includes the 11 Western states: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Occasionally we make forays into Alaska and the High Plains.

 

What we want:

 

We are looking for videographers and photographers who want to create videos or audio slideshows that include strong narrative storytelling elements for our website, www.hcn.org. We like character-driven stories, action, beauty and surprise.

 

We are also interested in animated videos that explain a science or policy process in a viewer-friendly way.

 

Most video pieces will fall in the range of 3-7 minutes, although we're open to series or longer stories.

 

We are also open to pitches for audio postcards, and narrated or non-narrated produced pieces – preferably sound rich – for our soon-to-be expanded monthly podcast, High Country Views. Additionally, we’re interested in collecting unique and unexpected sonic IDs from around the West. They need not all be “natural” sounds; just great, interesting sounds from our coverage area.

 

What we don't want:

 

We are not interested in TV-news style stories, talking heads or straightforward Q&As. We don't cover breaking news, and we don't want stories that everyone else is already covering.

 

Topics:

For the next year, we seek work in the following thematic areas, although pitches outside these topics that fit into High Country News’ core coverage areas, will also be considered. (See our website for examples of stories we run.)

 

How the "One Percent" shape the West, both positively and negatively.

Rich people aren't like you and me. They have a lot of power, and can use it for public benefit (consider Ted Turner's land conservation) or for private gain (land swaps giving wealthy individuals public lands in exchange for private parcels of sometimes questionable value). How are the One Percent shaping the West? Pitches in this vein could consider local and state politics, public lands, mega energy corporations and their influence, etc.

 

The post-Recession world, and where the West goes now.

The housing boom is dead, and it’s not coming back. Poverty is rising. Unemployment is up. Median incomes are only rising in drilling boomtowns like Gillette, Wyoming. Only roughnecks and the super rich seem to have come out of the economic crisis somewhat unscathed. Post-recession, are individuals and communities rebuilding their economies? How? Stories within this topic could include place and character profiles of economic successes — and failures.

 

Lessons for the West from the rest of the world.

Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin has seen remarkable water reform in recent years in response to a long and devastating drought. European cities have solved growth and transportation problems that Western cities can’t seem to get a handle on. What can Western communities learn from these parts of the world and other grappling with the same issues we do? Possibilities include on-the-ground stories of Western localities learning from the wide world around them, or even stories from abroad that have particular relevance for the American West.

 

How developments in science and technology are changing what we know about wildlife and landscapes

From advances in genetics to mechanical advances in wildlife tracking and equipment, scientists are always learning more about flora and fauna. Is that knowledge helping land managers make better decisions? This topic might lend itself to explanatory animations, or documentary-style stories about quirky, innovative scientists and charismatic wildlife.

 

Restoration science grows up.

The West is full of degraded landscapes. The science, social science and collaborative relationships necessary to restore them may be coming into its own. And more ambitious projects are constantly being attempted. Stories in this vein might track new work; longstanding efforts implementing promising, innovative techniques in landscapes that have been seen as all but lost; profile scientists on the cutting edge of their field; cover innovative work or surprising new political alliances in communities in iconic environments that are allowing restoration work to progress to new heights. Restoration stories seem to easily fall into the trap of all sounding the same; be careful to tell us why yours is surprising among all those others out there, or how the characters driving it will give an old story new life.

 

Large-scale environmental change and how it hits home.

From climate change to the rapid pace of new energy development, massive environmental transformations are already underway in the West and are expected to become even more pronounced in the future. How are these transformations changing how individuals and communities work and interact with the land?

 

Whom we'll work with:

 

Anyone with passion for a story and the desire to tell it through video or sound. We encourage students and new producers to pitch us; while we consider experience when making decisions, we're mostly interested in the quality of your idea and how well it fits our needs.

 

We don’t have a set-in-stone pay scale. If your pitch is accepted, compensation will be negotiated based on experience and project scope. Our budget is small, however, so if you're a major video producer looking for $15,000 for an 8-minute doc, we're not the publication for you.

 

If you're already working on a documentary project and think a segment of it might fit our needs, pitch us, and maybe we can support you with travel funding and a payment for the clips we use.

 

Like most underfunded nonprofits, we love collaboration, and are open to working with existing institutions or news organizations.

 

Please send inquiries to multimedia@hcn.org with a subject header of "Multimedia story query."

 

Please feel free to share this call for pitches. While our network runs far and deep (we are reporters, after all) there are likely amazing multimedia journalists who didn't receive this note. Feel free to send it along to them.

Rough Cuts documentary call for entries + film screening – entry deadline March 1, event March 20, SF

Hey folks. Great opportunity for filmmakers to get feedback on their docs. More details HERE and below. Submission deadline March 1.

Best,

Mia
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Thursday, March 1st is the deadline to submit to

ROUGH CUTS – MARCH 2012 SERIES

Tuesday, March 20th at 7:30 p.m.

Ninth Street Independent Film Center

145 Ninth Street, between Mission and Howard, San Francisco

Complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided

$7 admission

_____________________________________________________

Rough Cuts is a series of work-in-progress documentary screenings that are
produced every other month at a variety of locations throughout San
Francisco. For each evening, we screen one rough cut of a feature-length
documentary and then moderate a conversation about the film. These
post-screening discussions are designed to give the filmmaker a better,
more objective sense of what is working and not working with his/her film,
with particular attention paid to improving the film’s structure and
narrative clarity. We hope that the series also provides a welcome space
for local filmmakers, film professionals, and fans of documentary film to
meet and talk.

We are seeking long-form works with a final running time of 40 minutes or
longer. Principal photography should have been completed, and we encourage
filmmakers to submit cuts that are in the later stages of post-production
(i.e. NOT first or second cuts).

*Thursday, March 1st*

Submissions must arrive at the address above by 5:00 p.m. [*This is not a postmark deadline.*]

*Tuesday, March 6th*

Selections will be announced and filmmakers will be notified**

*Tuesday, March 20th*

Screening, followed by discussion led by a guest moderator

To submit, and for more details about Rough Cuts, visit:

http://sfroughcuts.com/

new online mag – Open City – Mapping Urban Asian America @aaww, Call for Creative Nonfiction Fellows

For you NYC writers. Interesting opportunity.
-mia
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Open City: Mapping Urban Asian America, a new online magazine on Asian American news and culture in New York, is hiring creative nonfiction fellows to produce content on the vibrant immigrant communities of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The new magazine will offer smart takes on Asian American (particularly immigrant) culture as it's lived in New York right now. Imagine stories on: the proliferation of x-rated video stories in Sunset Park, migratory patterns of Little Pakistani residents, karaoke bar culture, gentrification in Chinatown, or how Korean taco trucks define ethnic borders and space. Applications are due on February 17, 2012. How to apply: aaww.org/opencityapply. For more info., contact Kai Ma, editor, at kma@aaww.org.


Kai Ma | Managing Editor
The Asian American Writers' Workshop
110-112 W. 27th Street, Sixth Floor, NY, NY 10001
www.aaww.org | @aaww

Editor
Open City: Mapping Urban Asian America
Support Asian American literature: www.aaww.org/donate

Call for Entries – BAVC 2012 MediaMaker Fellows Program, late application deadline Feb 1

For you Bay Area filmmakers – you have to be a BAVC member to apply to this, but it's a great organization and looks like a great fellowship. Details HERE and below. Late application deadline Feb 1.

-mia

+++++++++++++++++++++++

MEDIAMAKER FELLOWS PROGRAM

BAVC MediaMaker Fellows 2012 Application Timeline

  • Application available: Thursday, December 1, 2011
  • Information session: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 6:00 – 8:00pm at BAVC (RSVP here) 
  • Application deadline: Tuesday, January, 17th, 2012 5:00pm
  • Late application deadline: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 5:00pm ($40 entry fee) 
  • 2012 Fellows announced: Monday, February 13, 2012

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) >

Click here to complete the 2012 MediaMaker Fellows application >

“I was thrilled to be a 2011 MediaMaker Fellow.
it has meant exposure to cutting edge technologies,
collaboration with this amazing group of filmmakers,
and it forced me to make space in my life

to think about innovation and how I could make this work.”

– Samantha Grant, “A Fragile Trust”
2011 BAVC MediaMaker Fellow

About the Program

Since 1991, BAVC's MediaMaker Awards have provided in-kind training and post-production grants for independent artists with a particular focus on supporting emerging artists and underserved communities. The Awards were designed to give independent artists direct access to the latest digital media technologies and prepare them for broadcast on public television with focused digital and multiplatform strategies for community engagement. BAVC offers six in-kind awards annually to be used for a combination of post-production services, facilities access, and training. We are extremely proud of our past MediaMaker award winners and are honored to have played a role in their development, completion, broadcast, and distribution.

The 2012 BAVC MediaMaker Fellows program is designed to engage local artists in a year-long series of opportunities that will support project development through professional mentorship in multiplatform and transmedia storytelling through emerging technologies, strategic social media, marketing, and fundraising. The BAVC MediaMaker Fellows program will build an engaged local community of creative media artists from diverse fields, increase their capacity for diverse and lasting impact, and inspire new partnerships to support future work.

BAVC MediaMaker Fellows:

  • Participate in New Media Workshops throughout the year, designed to provide special access to experts in emerging technologies and multiplatform documentary storytelling.
  • Participate in MediaMaker Fellows Labs to screen works-in-progress and receive feedback from fellow MediaMakers and invited industry experts on films and digital projects.

  • Receive a package of free BAVC equipment and facilities access for project development, focus groups, mentor meetings, professional production, postproduction, technical development, and beta-testing.
  • Receive numerous exposure opportunities including serving as a guest blogger for the BAVC web site and newsletter, highlighting your project, your creative process, screenings, events, and community engagement plans.
  • Are eligible for assistance from BAVC-trained media interns who will assist MediaMaker fellows in creating a short video documentary about the MediaMaker’s project to be used in presentations, funding proposals, and project promotion. (For samples of these see http://bavc.org/stream.) 
  • Be included in the MediaMaker Showcase – a public event for the BAVC MediaMaker Fellows to pitch their projects to local funders, broadcasters, and community organizations.
  • Access to and involvement with BAVC’s creative program alumni network.
  • A small cash stipend to support the development of your promotional behind-the-scenes video documentary with assistance from a BAVC-trained intern.

Program Elibility & Criteria

Any Bay Area BAVC member at the Producers Bundle level and above working on a noncommercial project is eligible for the MediaMaker Fellows program. BAVC takes special interest in artists who are working on projects about community and social justice issues, but we encourage projects of any genre or subject matter to apply. The MediaMaker Fellows program is particularly interested in supporting a diverse cross-section of artists with multi-disciplinary backgrounds. The proposed project must have some existing produced content, and must have a funding commitment from at least one additional source (besides BAVC). The project must also have a strong digital media component, but it need not be a traditional documentary or narrative film. Projects can be web-based, linear, interactive, performance, installation or a hybrid of these.

  • Propose a compelling, high-quality, noncommercial project to develop over the course of the year. Project must be digital media or centrally contain digital media components.
  • Have demonstrated an expertise in one or more creative disciplines.
  • Have demonstrated an ability to conceive, develop, and implement a high-quality creative project – at least one public performance, exhibition, or screening of an original work.
  • Be able to write effectively about their creative process and vision for their project.
  • Be willing to be an active participant in monthly labs and quarterly workshops, an annual exhibition, pitch/showcase, and ongoing online forum.

 

2012 Edward R. Murrow Awards, deadline Feb 9

It's time for the Edward R. Murrow Awards. More information HERE and below. Good luck!

-mia

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Awards

2012 Edward R. Murrow Awards Contest – Enter Now!



RTDNA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the
Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow’s pursuit of excellence in journalism embodies the spirit of the awards that carry his name. Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the electronic news profession. In 2011, 600 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards were handed out and of those 600, 95 went on to win National Edward R. Murrow Awards. 


Entries may be submitted by stations, networks, syndication services, program services websites and online news organizations. Entrants will be identified as Radio Network/Syndication Service/Program Service, Large Market Radio Station, Small Market Radio Station, Television Network/Syndication Service/Program Service, Large Market Television Station, Small Market Television Station and Online News Organization. Entries must be submitted in the category in which the story first aired and must be as it was heard on air or online.


Our entry process has changed in 2012 – please read the 2012 entry document in full by clicking here BEFORE submitting your entry or contacting RTDNA with questions.


(NOTE: RTDNA will no longer provide a media upload platform. Individuals must
submit a URL to their piece in the space provided on the application. Entrants are encouraged to upload media to YouTube, Vimeo, or personal sites. YouTube instructions can be found on page 6 of the entry document.)

The deadline for entries is Thursday, February 9, 2012.

a bunch of opportunities from New America Media

Hey folks. A bunch of opportunities listed in the latest newsletter from New America Media. Info and links below.
-mia
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Events & Opportunities:  

Deadline: February 8th

New England Center for Investigative Reporting Offers Free Training on Covering Veterans' Issues

The New England Center for Investigative Reporting in Boston is offering a three-day McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute (SRI) training on veterans' issues March 5th-7th.
With tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the major reporting tasks of 2012 will be tracking what happens to these veterans as they face the challenge of settling back in to life at home. Reporters and editors will learn how to navigate the VA bureaucracy, hear from experts-including veterans– who will provide an in-depth understanding of the major issues impacting returning soldiers, and learn from the head of Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) how to transform complex data into compelling stories. 

Application deadline is February 20th
http://necir-bu.org/mccormick-specialized-reporting-institute/

Entry Deadline for New America Award: 
February 9th

This award, presented by the Society of Professional Journalists, honors reporting on ethnic and immigrant communities living in the U.S. The contest upholds an important value of SPJ: to promote diversity in journalism – in the newsroom and in the stories journalists report.

To make it as accessible as possible, the New America Award contest is free to enter. Nominations are welcome from media outlets, journalists, community and issue advocacy groups, individuals, and others concerned with ethnic issues. The winner will be recognized in late September at the 2012 Excellence in Journalism conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Awards entries must be mailed to SPJ headquarters and postmarked by Feb. 9. For more information about the award, including entry requirements, click here. Please contact Lauren Rochester with questions at lrochester@spj.org.