Simon Cumbers

 A new scheme that will fund two media students to travel to a developing country was launched in October as part of the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.  The deadline for applications under this student scheme is Friday, 10^th February at 5pm. 

Students wishing to apply are strongly advised to start working on their applications to ensure they meet the deadline.  Applications will not be accepted after the closing date. 

The Simon Cumbers Media Fund was established by Irish Aid in memory of Irish journalist Simon Cumbers, who was killed in Saudi Arabia while working with the BBC in 2004.  The aim of the Fund is to promote more and better quality coverage of development issues in the Irish media.  The new student scheme, which is being piloted during the 2011/12 academic year, is being introduced to give students a greater understanding of development issues.

Under the Simon Cumbers Media Fund Student Scheme, students are being invited to submit proposals on an issue they would like to research and cover in a developing country.  Full details of the scheme are available at: www.simoncumbersmediafund.ie/students. 

A panel of judges will award two students with an opportunity to travel to a developing country to research and produce a media project focusing on development issues.  In addition to securing a budget to cover travel and accommodation costs, the successful students will be offered guidance and one-to-one mentoring from journalists within two of Ireland’s leading media organisations: Newstalk Producer Susan Cahill and The Irish Times’ Foreign Policy Editor, Paddy Smyth.

As partners in the scheme, The Irish Times and Newstalk will publish the work of the successful applicants once they have completed their projects.  In addition to developing a print or broadcast media output, students will be encouraged to produce multimedia projects to include potential coverage in college media outlets and on social media sites.