Auckland Radio Trust and The Spinoff launch Vince Geddes Journalism Fund

The Auckland Radio Trust has announced the establishment of the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund.

The fund will provide much-needed financial and editorial support to talented freelance journalists, empowering them to produce in-depth, high-quality journalism in an increasingly constrained media landscape.

It will provide the journalists with support for the stories that take time, research and intensive reporting, with editorial and structural support from The Spinoff – where the completed features will be published. 

In 2025 the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund will allocate $ 30,000 to support freelance journalists. The fund will be distributed over two intakes, offering three grants of $ 5,000 each (a total of six grants in 2025). These grants will cover writing fees and associated costs like travel, research, and data collection, ensuring the awardees can focus on producing quality work with fewer financial barriers. The fund’s design responds to the freelance community’s need for both financial support and institutional backing, offering a clear pathway for the creation of thoughtful, in-depth pieces that often struggle to find space in today’s fast-paced media ecosystem.

This fund has been established by Auckland Radio Trust in memory of Vince Geddes. Alan Sherlock, the Chair of the Auckland Radio Trust says “The Trust is delighted to support the In-Depth Journalism Fund, partnering with The Spinoff in memory of the founding member and voice of the Trust, Vince Geddes. With quality local journalism facing considerable fiscal pressure, we hope that this fund will provide some much needed support for freelance journalists to produce well researched and well written local stories.”

From today, freelance journalists are invited to apply for the first intake of grants online with their project proposal. A panel of senior editors from The Spinoff, chosen for their editorial expertise and commitment to journalistic excellence, will assess the submissions each intake and select three projects to commission. The deadline for the first intake of submissions is Friday January 31, 2025, with decisions announced on Friday February 14, 2025. Full deadlines and dates are available on The Spinoff’s website.

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