The Water Desk is now accepting applications for awards of $2,500 to $10,000 to support media outlets and individual journalists covering water issues related to New Mexico and the Rio Grande.
The deadline for applications is Monday, April 17, 2023, at 11:59 pm Mountain.
This program is only open to journalists (freelance and staff) and media outlets.
The geographic scope for this program is New Mexico and the Rio Grande Basin. All proposals must have a strong connection to either New Mexico water issues or the Rio Grande watershed in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and/or Mexico.
The Water Desk is interested in supporting a wide variety of media and journalistic approaches: newspapers, magazines, websites, video, television, radio, podcasts and other channels.
Because water is intertwined with so many issues, we are open to proposals covering a broad spectrum of topics: climate change, biodiversity, pollution, public health, environmental justice, food, agriculture, drinking water, economics, recreation and more.
Funding for this program comes from the Thornburg Foundation and Santa Fe Community Foundation. As a journalistic initiative, The Water Desk maintains a policy of strict editorial independence from our funders, as well as from the University of Colorado Boulder. Funders of The Water Desk have no right to review nor influence stories or other journalistic content that is produced with the support of these awards. For more on our policies, please see our funding page.
This page has more details about the program. You can apply through this form.
See a list of prior grantees on this page and view their work here.
Questions? Please contact Water Desk Director Mitch Tobin at mitchtobin@colorado.edu.
The Water Desk’s mission is to increase the volume, depth and power of journalism connected to Western water issues. We’re an initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. We maintain a strict editorial firewall between our funders and our journalism.
