Pitches

Destination DIY accepting pitches!

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Destination DIY is going full steam ahead with monthly podcast episodes and we are currently accepting pitches. Below are our pitch guidelines. Questions? Hit me up at julie@destinationdiy.org
Thanks!
Julie

DDIY PITCH GUIDELINES:

Destination DIY is a monthly podcast and each episode focused on one particular story. If you are not familiar with Destination DIY, we encourage you to take a listen to some of the stories on our SoundCloud feed:https://soundcloud.com/destinationdiy In short, we are not a how-to show and our definition of DIY is intentionally very broad. We are most interested in good talkers and surprising stories about people who are taking on interesting projects without the help of a large institution of some kind. Even if the project itself does not seem fascinating, if there’s a great character behind it, it could be a good fit for us. We are looking for features of about 10-12 minutes in length, but can be flexible, especially with the podcast format. Our goal is to have a piece ready by the 10th of each month. We generally try to keep our stories “evergreen,” but if there’s a specific peg for your pitch, please let us know.

Payment: Destination DIY pays a flat fee for each piece – between $200 and $500 based on the length and complexity of the production as well as the skill level of the producer. Payment is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Submission guidelines: Please email pitches to info@destinationdiy.org with the word "pitch" in the subject line. Write up a short description of your ideas and who you plan to include in your piece. NO ATTACHMENTS PLEASE. Please let us know what kind of audio equipment and software you will be using and if you haven’t worked with us before, please provide links to your past work and at least 2 references.

More details on our process: Destination DIY will create the final mix for all the pieces. You will be expected to provide a rough mix along with your actualities, narration, room tone, and ambient sound as well as a final script and raw audio when necessary. If your pitch is accepted, please be prepared to submit a script and scratch track for editing before submitting any final audio. Our editing process usually involves a couple of script and scratch track edits. Independent producers retain all the rights to their work and are free to post it anywhere or pitch it to other outlets. We respectfully ask that you wait until it’s been released on the Destination DIY podcast.

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Host, producer and creator of Destination DIY
http://destinationdiy.org
Twitter: @DIYgirl
Facebook: http://facebook.com/DestinationDIY

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Call for Nominations $20K National Academies Communication Awards, deadline Feb 9

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Go for it! Podcasts are eligible, FYI. Deadline Feb 9.

 

 

 


The Keck Futures Initiative – a program of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, with the support of the W.M. Keck Foundation – will award four $20,000 prizes in 2015 to individuals or teams (up to four individuals associated with the creation of the work being nominated) who have developed creative, original works that address issues and advances in science, engineering and/or medicine for the general public. Nominations are accepted in four categories: Book; Film/Radio/TV; Magazine/Newspaper; and Online. The winners will be honored in the Fall 2015 at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C and are expected to attend in person.

 

ELIGIBILITY
To be considered for a 2015 Communication Award, the work should:

• be accessible and appeal to a broad, public audience;

• demonstrate clarity, creativity, originality, and accuracy;

• address issues and/or advances in science, engineering, and/or medicine;

• cover topics that have an impact on society; and

• have been published, broadcast, or released in 2014, in the United States and in English.

 

Call For Nominations Now Being Accepted

Nominations will be accepted through February 9, 2015. For more information about the process, please visit:

http://www.keckfutures.org/awards/nominate.html.

 

2015 TIMELINE

o   February 9 – Nomination process closes; all nominations must be submitted online.

o   February 13 – All supporting materials must be received or nomination is invalid. Please see specific                                category for required supporting materials.

o   Fall 2015 – Winners honored at a ceremony to be held in Washington D.C. Date to be determined.

 

NOMINATION FORM

The nominations process closes February 9, 2015; copies of the nominated work must be submitted as described for each category by February 13, 2015. Self- nominations are permitted; there is no nomination fee.  Nominators are encouraged to submit to the category that most closely describes the work(s) being nominated.  Supporting materials will not be returned. 

The criteria for each category are listed below.

 

BOOK
Books must have been published in the U.S. in 2014 to be considered. Please submit two copies of the book. The publisher and year of publication must be printed on the book. Advance publication dates must include verification from the publisher.

 

FILM/RADIO/TV
Works in this category must have aired on a U.S. station or have been released in U.S. theaters or on DVD in 2014 and may include a single story or movie, a series, or as many as six brief, unrelated stories. Please submit three CDs or DVDs labeled with the nominee's name(s), the title(s) included on the DVD or CD, and the original airdate (with the name of the U.S. station and the program on which the stories aired) or release date. These must be submitted in protective cases and include authorization allowing the Keck Futures Initiative to reproduce the CD or DVD for review purposes (copyright release). Submission of copies of the program transcript is also encouraged. If you are not able to provide copyright release, please submit an additional 20 copies of the CD or DVD.

 

MAGAZINE/NEWSPAPER

Work in this category must have been published in the U.S. in 2014, and may comprise a single article or as many as four articles that are unrelated or that constitute a formal series. Please submit three original copies of each article clearly showing the byline and the name and date of the publication and authorization allowing the Keck Futures Initiative to reproduce the article for review purposes (copyright release). If you are not able to provide copyright release, please send an additional 20 copies of the article(s), or a PDF file of the article(s).

 

ONLINE

Works in this category may include as many as six blog entries, hypertext documents, videos, podcasts, commentaries, data visualizations, interactive components, etc., or any combination thereof, created specifically for the Web that were posted online in 2014. Preference will be given to nominations that make the best use of the medium, including multi-media presentations that incorporate a combination of writings, features, and/or other capabilities unique to this communication medium. Include links to the unique URLs for each work(s). Links must be active through October 31, 2015.


Questions? Or if you would like to be on the awards ceremony invite list please email  commawards@nas.edu.

 

Winners and finalists will be announced early fall 2015.

For More Information
Visit http://www.keckfutures.org/awards/nominate.html  for a complete listing of this year's Selection Committee, information about the awards and to nominate.

Kind regards,
~Rachel Lesinski

National Academies Keck Futures Initiative

100 Academy, 2nd Floor

Irvine, CA 92617

 

To unsubscribe please send an email to commawards@nas.edu with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

 

This email is sent by INFOCUS Marketing on behalf of National Academies Keck Futures Initiative.

 

 

 

 

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FIJ Application Deadline Extended to Feb. 2

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Note for any of you applying for this FIJ grant

The January 15, 2015 deadline for applications has been extended to Monday, February 2, 2015 at 5pm Eastern time. The Fund for Investigative Journalism is currently accepting applications for domestic and foreign investigations.

—

Sandy Bergo
Executive Director
Fund for Investigative Journalism
529 14th Street NW – 13th floor
Washington DC 20045
Selected for the 2011/2012 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington
@FundFIJ

Gigs

Full-Time Position, Stanford Storytelling Project, Applications due Feb 1

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Dream job?
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The Stanford Storytelling Project, an arts program at Stanford University, is launching a search for a new, full-time Lecturer who would teach undergraduate courses, workshops, and help produce our radio show, State of the Human. Details about the position are below, but the basics are: an advanced academic degree, college-level teaching experience, and significant audio documentary production experience are required; start date is August 1, 2015; salary will be competitive.

If you're interested, please read the ad carefully and visit the link to the application page. More information about the Storytelling Project is at our website: storytelling.stanford.edu.

Thanks all,
Jonah Willihnganz, MFA, PhD
Director, The Stanford Storytelling Project
Stanford University
jonahw@stanford.edu

_____________________________________________________________

JOB OPENING
STANFORD UNIVERSITY

LECTURER, STANFORD STORYTELLING PROJECT
Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE)

Stanford University is seeking a full-time Lecturer for the Stanford Storytelling Project, an arts program within the Oral Communication Program in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. The initial appointment will be August 1, 2015 – July 31, 2016, with the possibility of re-appointment.

The Stanford Storytelling Project (SSP) provides students opportunities to develop skills in the narrative arts through a range of courses and projects. SSP sponsors courses, grants, events, a weekly workshop, and an award-winning radio program featuring stories produced by students. SSP explores in particular the power of performed stories, live or recorded, from myth and memoir to research-based narratives. More information is at storytelling.stanford.edu.

The SSP Lecturer will offer instruction in oral, audio, and multimedia storytelling craft in a variety of settings across the university and will support the activities and initiatives of SSP. Major duties include developing and teaching courses, designing and delivering workshops, training SSP student staff, mentoring students, and collaborating with faculty to design storytelling course components.

Requirements include:

Advanced degree (PhD preferred) in a field focused on narrative craft such as English, Creative Writing, or Documentary Studies. 3-5 years of experience teaching college-level courses in narrative craft, plus 2-3 years of experience mentoring others in creating stories for radio, podcast, or the web, and audio production. Qualified applicants must also have demonstrated knowledge of oral and audio storytelling forms, trends, and programs, understanding of up-to-date pedagogy in teaching narrative craft, and the organizational and leadership skills to help manage the production of the project’s radio show, State of the Human.

About Stanford University

Stanford University, located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, is one of the world’s leading teaching and research universities. Since its opening in 1891, Stanford has been dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges and to preparing students for leadership in a complex world.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. For a more comprehensive job description and to apply, please visit: http://apply.interfolio.com/27992.

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Snap Judgment wants your love story!

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From Snap!

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We'll be sending out a longer list with our upcoming themes soon, but for now Snap Judgment is accepting pitches with a quick turn around time for Valentines day. If anyone has an already produced piece or a live story that might fit our general format (plot driven narrative arch, twists and turns, surprising ending) send that along too please. 

Below find some general instructions and inspiration about pitching to Snap. Please send any pitches or questions to me directly at adlerstein@snapjudgment.org.

Looking forward to reading your submissions,

Ana

Why Should I Pitch To Snap?

1) We pay well.  $95/minute for your first three stories.  $105/minute after that.  We also give everyone a $250 kill fee.   And our stories are long (see next line).

2) We give you time to tell your story.  The average Snap piece is now 8-15 minutes.  That means fewer editorial puppies being killed, and more time being spent on scoring and mixing each piece.

3) Your story stands a very good chance of making it to air very quickly.  We have programming gaps for every single upcoming theme. That means if we like your pitch, we will not put it in a maybe pile for a year.  Once it's produced (provided it's not killed), it will in all likelihood be on the air shortly.

4) You still own the story and can create your own director's cut. You can't sell something (say on PRX) that's too similar to what we did on the show, but you can always put your own version on your website or resume if you prefer.  If you make a story that's substantially different, you can sell it to anyone after we air our version.

5) You can produce cool old stories with no pegs.  See next section!

Where Can I Find Stories For Snap?

Most people think they need to "stumble upon" a small, intimate, underground story for Snap Judgment.  This is simply not true.  Great stories can come from a newsletter, periodical, magazine, press release, obscure TV program, non-fiction book or documentary. If you have found ANY story with strong narrative elements which hasn't gotten too much press in the past few years and hasn't yet been turned into a radio piece (and one of the characters turns out to be a capable talker) you should pitch us.   Anytime you come across such a story, we are potentially interested.

How Do I Know The Story Is Right For Snap

1)    Is the story not just a story, but a tale?  In other words, does it have characters with wants and needs and hopes and fears, scenes that play out in a chronological order in which said characters make important decisions and discover new things, and some kind of central tension that gets resolved in an unexpected way over the course of a narrative arc?  If so, then it’s a tale, and we’re interested. 

2)    Is the story cinematic?  In other words, will it provide us with scenes rich enough in detail that the listener can see events playing out in their mind’s eye?  Because we’re not interested in narratives in which things happen on an abstract level.   We want the listener to be transported to a specific time and place.   

3)    Is there something new about it? Every Snap Judgment story needs to have an unexpected wrinkle, a new element, that makes the listener stop what they’re doing and pay attention.  Sometimes the new thing is just the fact that you’ve discovered a great talker, but nine times out of ten it’s a unique premise or plot element. If we feel like we’ve heard this one before (maybe not this precise story, but something super similar) we’ll probably pass.    

 

How Should I Structure My Pitch?


There's actually a really simple trick to this: Don’t pitch us a public radio story. Pitch us a MOVIE.  A typical public radio pitch invariably describes what a story is broadly about, more often than not some kind of compelling concept; a movie pitch summarizes a sequence of events.  Give us the enticing premise, introduce the compelling characters, then describe the thing that sets the story in motion, the rising stakes, the unexpected development, the third act twist, and the ending that somehow feels unexpected and inevitable at the same time.  Okay, it doesn’t need all those things, but you get the idea. Anything that sounds like a movie (or a short film) will definitely get our attention.   Because that’s what we do, we make cinematic stories that just happen to be audio-based — usually from a first person perspective.  And if you can’t pitch your story as a sequence of events?  Well, then, it probably wasn’t a Snap story in the first place.

Gigs

Happy New Year! Pitch to BackStory!

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BackStory is now accepting pitches for the following shows (air dates in parentheses):

Advertising (1/30) — The episode will focus on how things and ideas get sold to the American public, and how that’s changed over time. We’re looking for stories about: ads in the colonial period, how the U.S. sold itself to immigrants (and internal migrants), ads geared toward women, and the social psychology of commercial advertising, to name a few.

Women in the Workplace (2/6) — This one will look at the history of American women and their relationships with work. We’re looking for stories about: women’s labor movements, how reproductive rights have affected women in their work, women’s efforts to shape and change the workplace, wage equality, and the cultural debates over what counts as “work.” Though it’s tempting, we’ll probably avoid stories about awesome ladies who are awesome just for the sake of awesomeness. BackStory is keen to have great stories with a “Big Think” component.

Middle Class (2/27) — For this show, we’ll investigate how that elusive, powerful (and uniquely American?) group, the middle class, has operated in different centuries in American history. What has it meant to be middle class? Has the term always been positive? Why do so many politicians claim to champion it? How has mass media perpetuated myths about the middle class?

Historical Fiction (TBD) — For this show, we’d be looking for stories about children’s literature, historical re-enactments, movies, TV shows, musicals, graphic novels, the importance (or unimportance) of historical accuracy in fiction, historical fictions with big impacts (Gone With the Wind?), alternative histories, and big ideas like: what are the contours of historical fiction? When is it appropriate and when has it been more than a little dangerous? And what’s the point, anyway?

Here’s a link to the pitch page of our web site, for info about what makes a good BackStory pitch: http://backstoryradio.org/producers/

BackStory is especially interested in stories that get out of the studio — that is, site-specific and sound-rich stories from around the country. Include what, if any, sources you would use in your story and how you would produce them. Give us an idea about what you imagine your piece would sound like (field tape, scoring, effects, readings, etc.). We’re open to non-narrated features, written essays, and reported pieces. Three to 10 minutes in length is ideal.

Email Associate Producer Kelly Jones at <khjones at virginia dot edu>, with “PITCH:” in your subject line. We’ll do our best to be in touch with you within a week of receiving your pitch.

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upcoming grant/fellowship deadlines from AIR

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If you've been on this list for awhile you know that I'm a big fan of AIR – The Association of Independents in Radio (which is now about a lot more than just radio.) The grant/fellowship deadlines listed below come from their monthly newsletter. You need to be an AIR member to get their Full list of upcoming deadlines (login required), but they have a public wiki of awards and fellowships that's available to everyone. Check it out! -Mia

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Upcoming Deadlines

NEH America's Media Makers production grants
Deadline: Jan. 14
Details: Awards that range from $100,000 to $800,000 for one- to three-year projects that "explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world."

Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University
Deadline: Jan. 31
Details: A $60,000 stipend (plus tuition and fees, and housing and childcare allowances) for 12 American journalists to study tuition-free at Harvard for 10 months. Fellows and their partners have the run of Harvard, MIT, and Boston-area universities. Several specialized grants are available.

Knight-Wallace Fellowship at Michigan
Deadline: Feb. 1
Details: $70,000 stipend, plus all tuition and fees, for journalists in all disciplines, with international excursions over the 10-month, residential fellowship. Multiplatform training and a "backpack" of equipment supplied to help each fellow expand his or her craft.

Gigs

Seeking Business/Industry reporters for collaboration

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Hello FC community – Happy New Year! For the first post of 2015, I have a very cool opportunity from Willa Kammerer. Details below! -Mia
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I'm producing an ongoing series of videos for a NY-based startup directed at live audiences of entrepreneurs around the world. It's a project that walks the line between documentary and commercial, and that I've found quite interesting. My client is hoping to be able to scale the project quickly, and so I'm looking to develop relationships with a handful of business and industry public radio reporters (producers, non-pub radio bloggers, etc) to be involved in the capacity of Producer, which would involve story research, interviewing, and story production during pre-production, production, and post-production of these videos, working in collaboration with audio and camerapersons in the field, and a video editor during post-production. My vision (and my client's) for this is to be able to have 4 videos in production at once, so each Producer would be working on 1-2 projects at once, depending on availability, with me or another collaborator as the main point person. The point of involving you is to move forward efficiently and really establish a system for producing these, so I am hesitant to stack too much on any one Producer's plate. 
I'm looking for Producers with a good deal of business and/or industry experience and insights, who will feel comfortable interviewing CEOs, Co-Founders, and CTOs, and digging into the details. The first company we profiled is the fast-growing startup Grovo. We've been mostly focused on the tech/internet industry to start, but as my client scales the plan is to create content across a number of industries (everything from Medical Devices to Materials & Construction, etc.) so if you have niche interest in any industry, I'm interested in talking to you, too! It would be great to find collaborators for this project to work with on an ongoing basis (maybe one video a month or every other month, or more), who could also take initiative in suggesting and connecting with companies that you might have connections or prior experience with. We are seeking fresh insights from our interviewees and to share information and knowledge that doesn't often make it outside of the corner office. The videos are long form, about 20 mins each, broken into different sections, so we have a lot of space to play with. 
My client thought that business bloggers could be a good fit to be involved from a story production/interviewing standpoint because of their deep knowledge of the business landscape, but I immediately thought public radio producers might be an even better fit because of your production experience! Of course, any video experience could be valuable too, but for this it's certainly not a prerequisite
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outLoud call for submissions at Youth Radio, deadline Dec 16

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Please pass this along to the young people in your life. A great opportunity for LBGT youth to get involved with a fantastic program. Details below.

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outLoud Radio – now at Youth Radio – wants to hear from you!


Holiday time can be super stressful, especially if you’re young and queer. How are you feeling this time of year? Are you in contact with your family? Do you go home for holidays or get together with extended family? Are you out to them? Are you planning to come out? What do you talk about together or what conversations do you avoid? Do you invite a significant other home? What comes up for you as a young LGBTQ person during this time of year?


outLoud Radio at Youth Radio is looking for your words and comments on this topic. Write or send a video (via YouTube) and we’ll post it on our website!


Here are the details:

  • Email us (300 words or less) or send a video (2 minutes or less, published on YouTube so we can embed)

  • Include your name and age (specify if you want your name published)

  • Add a picture- maybe you with your family or another photo you’d like published with your piece (optional)

  • Express yourself honestly, but please no cuss-words, hate speech, disrespectful language or anything else that might prevent us from posting your submission

  • All submissions must be emailed to Youth Radio by Dec 16 to be considered for publication

  • Specifically looking for submissions from people under the age of 25


To submit:

Send an email to outloud@youthradio.org

Make the subject: Holiday outLoud Submission


Thanks and look forward to hearing from you!

   
outLoud Radio at Youth Radio

1701 Broadway | Oakland, CA 94612 
outloud@youthradio | P: 510-251-1101 

Internships

Call for Interns for MEGAPOLIS festival 2015, Oakland, June 5-7

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Megapolis is coming to Oakland and they need help! Unpaid, but good schmoozing opportunity for newbies. Details below.

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The upcoming MEGAPOLIS festival will be held in Oakland June 5-7th, 2015.
We will be needing an intern or two to help with the organizational efforts as things start ramping up to the new year.

The internship is unpaid or can apply for college credits. Several Radiotopia producers are involved with the festival along with many fantastic artists and media people. The internship will appeal to any one who is interested in media+arts+technology+audio related things.

Here's the ad –

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MEGAPOLIS Audio Art Festival is Looking for Dedicated Individuals Like You
The 4th Megapolis Audio Festival, a weekend-long series of events dedicated to the art of sound, is coming to various venues in Oakland on June 5-7th, 2015. And we need your help! We facilitate workshops, produce stage performances, run tours, set up and tear down installations, and do all sorts of fun stuff.  We attract all sorts of artists working with sound including documentarians, technologists, musicians, educators, urban planners, scientists, radio producers, and fans who want to meet other crazy people making crazy things. And we would like you to be a part of it.
We could use some dedicated interns to do specific tasks in the coming months. We need your help with everything from cataloging artist proposals to updating social media accounts to making buttons for festival attendees. Or just helping during the festival itself. The main qualities we look for are reliability and good energy. 
The internship is alas unpaid (or can be worth college credits), however you will have full access to all festival events, be around some incredibly creative arts/media/tech people, and make contacts. If you have an interest in working with us on something great, please email us at volunteer@megapolisfestival.org with a short bio, your availability, and your skills and interests. Get in touch!
– Team MEGAPOLIS 

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