Earth Shorts 2025: Fellowship for Social Media Creators and Journalists in South and Southeast Asia

We seek to strengthen the quality of actionable biodiversity information on social media platforms, produced by both journalists and content creators

Following a successful pilot project in the Philippines, EJN is launching the next phase of Earth Shorts. Earth Shorts 2025 is seeking social media content creators curious to learn more about biodiversity issues and incorporate journalism skills, as well as environmental journalists interested in building their social media skills for a joint fellowship program designed to enable both groups to share insights and create evidence-based and engaging biodiversity-related content on social media.

Please read the following sections carefully, as they contain important information on eligibility and the application process.

Overview

In the past two decades, the shift from traditional to digital media has transformed how news and information is produced, shared, accessed and experienced. Recently, new challenges in the information space have emerged: people (especially younger audiences) are increasingly getting news and information from social media amidst growing distrust of mainstream news outlets; climate and environmental news avoidance is growing; and now with generative artificial intelligence, mis/disinformation on climate change and other environmental themes spreads like wildfire online.

So, while journalists have well-established roles and responsibilities, their reach is reducing, while with the rise of social media, content creators have increasing influence but what's expected of them is not well defined.

These challenges are particularly salient in the Asian context: the continent currently accounts for 60% of the world’s social media users.

Social media content creators and journalists share several challenges, and many unique ones: How can journalists better meet this moment, leveraging social media to deepen trust with their audiences and widen the reach of their reporting? The Earth Shorts pilot demonstrated that there’s plenty they can learn from content creators who are active on social media platforms.

At the same time, how can content creators, many of whom seek to engage their followers on civic issues, improve public awareness of environmental threats and solutions, deepen accountability and motivate informed decisions? Under pressure from platform algorithms to produce frequent and "clickbait" content, and often ill-equipped with factchecking skills—particularly relevant when discussing science-based issues such as biodiversity loss—they are both vulnerable to and can also be disseminators of mis- and disinformation.

In view of these challenges and opportunities, and following the success of the Earth Shorts pilot in the Philippines, EJN is expanding this initiative across South and Southeast Asia to a larger group of fellows. We seek to strengthen the quality of actionable biodiversity information on social media platforms, produced by both journalists and content creators—and consequently, deepen public engagement with local, national and regional biodiversity issues.

As part of this program, we will offer US$2,000 each to 10 social media content creators and 10 journalists across South and Southeast Asia, to bring together a cohort of 20 information producers interested in boosting their skills, participating in peer learning and producing high-quality biodiversity-related video content for their audiences.

Selected content producers will participate in a three-day virtual training workshop on biodiversity and conservation issues and, with support from mentors, produce and disseminate at least five pieces of biodiversity-related video content each on social media platforms.

Eligibility

We will accept applications from social media content creators and journalists based in South and Southeast Asia, which includes the following countries: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, Thailand (including Myanmar nationals based in Thailand), Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines.

Content creators should actively and frequently post short-form videos on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X or other leading social media platforms, relating to topics such as lifestyle, social issues, travel, science, economy, politics, and health. We ask that creators have an audience size between 20,000 and 200,000 followers. Creators should not be currently reporting for any media outlets; former journalists are eligible. Prior content focused on biodiversity is not a requirement, however, an interest in linking your work to biodiversity issues is key.

Journalists should actively and frequently be reporting on biodiversity issues, and can be on staff at a media outlet or freelance. Journalists should have an active presence on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X or other leading social media platforms (posting at least once a week and/or regularly creating video or text content about their journalistic projects), but there is no audience size requirement. Prior experience as a content creator is not a requirement, however, an interest in increasing your social media skills is key.

For the purposes of this grant opportunity, we will accept applications in English only. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff. However, creators and journalists can produce work in any language.

EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, plagiarism and/or submitting AI-generated content as their own.

Program logistics

We plan to select 10 social media creators and 10 journalists in August 2025. The program will begin with a joint three-day virtual training workshop in September 2025, followed by several months of content production supported by regular mentorship and peer learning activities.

We expect that all content will be produced by February 2026 at the latest, with a closing ceremony in March 2026, which will be an opportunity for the cohort to share their work.

Fellows should plan to commit 10 hours of their time for the virtual three-day training in September 2025, and up to 5 hours per month for the remaining fellowship period, which includes time spent on content production and monthly meetings with mentors and other fellows.

Workshop and online seminars: Selected fellows will take part in a pre-workshop survey to assess their capacity, interests and needs, and then join a three-day virtual workshop, which will feature both joint and separate sessions. The final curriculum design will be tailored to the specific cohort and to the differing needs of creators and journalists, but could include thematic areas such as localizing biodiversity stories, potential conservation solutions at the policy and personal level, key concepts of biodiversity and conservation, the intersections with issues such as climate change and public health, an introduction to international biodiversity treaties and frameworks, fact-checking tips and tools, techniques to build audience engagement, understanding analytics, videography/video editing and storytelling skills, digital security and internet safety, using artificial intelligence on the internet, strategies to address mis/disinformation, platform accountability, and more.

Content production and mentorship: Applicants will propose ideas for short-form videos in their application and will have the opportunity to refine these ideas and their distribution plan with support from their assigned mentors. They will receive a grant of US$2,000 each to produce and disseminate at least five biodiversity-focused pieces of video content to their audiences on their platforms of choice. Content produced by the fellows will also be shared on EJN’s website and social media channels. Fellows will be expected to monitor and report on their engagement and reach during the program.

Peer learning: Fellows will have the opportunity to share content, experiences, strategies and lessons with each other and with EJN staff as part of regular sharing sessions. Journalists and creators will be encouraged to collaborate and provide peer feedback on each other’s work.

Safety: We encourage selected fellows to follow public health regulations and best practices for local disease outbreaks if recording content out in public so you do not endanger yourself or the people you're speaking to. We also encourage fellows to follow best practices to safeguard their physical and digital safety.

Language of publication: Content can be produced in any language. We encourage the production of content in the language that resonates best with your audience, However, applicants who intend to produce content in their local language should also provide English subtitles or captions for wider reach.

Acknowledgement of EJN support: Content produced as part of this training and grant opportunity should acknowledge EJN support verbally or in writing by including this tagline: “Produced as part of #EarthShorts @earthjournalism.” Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Republication rights: Internews’ EJN, its partners and the grant funder have the right to freely distribute all content produced as an output of this program.

Judging criteria

Applicants should consider the following judging criteria when devising their pitches.

Selection of content creators will be based on:

A consistent track record of producing short-form video content.
Number of followers (between 20,000 and 200,000).

Selection of journalists will be based on:

A consistent track record of covering biodiversity issues for media outlets.
An active social media presence, such as posting at least once a week and creating video or text content about your journalistic projects.

All applications will also be judged using the following criteria:

Relevance: Do the video ideas outlined in the application meet the criteria and objectives of the call? Is the main idea, context and overall value to the target audience clearly defined?
Angle: Do your ideas for content bring new insights or offer a fresh angle on biodiversity issues?
Impact: Do your pitches seem compelling? Are they likely to inform and engage, draw attention, trigger debate and urge action?
Innovative storytelling: The use of creative video editing approaches, narrative styles and/or data will be considered a plus.
Motivation: Demonstrated interest in using social media to produce impactful content on biodiversity and clear plan to continue producing this kind of content following the fellowship.
Availability: Selected fellows will need to take part in the pre- and post-workshop surveys, join all three days of the training workshop, attend all peer learning sessions, and commit to producing and disseminating at least five pieces of content by February 2026.

Examples of biodiversity-focused Instagram Reels, TikToks and YouTube Shorts:

For whom?

Freelance

Funding

Free

Duration

6 months - 1 year