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Joe Watson Legacy Fund open for applications

By 26th April 2018July 27th, 2023No Comments
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Applications are invited to the Joe Watson Legacy Fund to improve the understanding of agriculture and provide better education for journalism and communication.

Submissions must be from Guild Members to the fund which was set up in memory of the late Joe Watson, a former Guild chairman and agri-journalist who died age 43 in March 2014.

Grants are available to UK Guild Members who are active in food and farming journalism and communications, as well as those wishing to begin a career in it.

Applications for educational and/or professional development will be especially welcomed.

The Joe Watson Legacy Fund was established with the help of the financial surplus generated from the 2014 IFAJ Congress, hosted by the BGAJ and held in Aberdeen.

Long-term, the fund’s Trustees intend to grow the value of the charity’s funds through investment and addition, rather than fund grants through depletion of the initial capital sum.

This will provide current and future guild members with a valuable resource for grants that can help them meet their career and personal aspirations.

These will be activities that fit the charity’s objectives of improving agricultural understanding via strong agricultural journalism.

Of particular interest will be applications that involve travel or education and training. Joe was a strong advocate for both.

Terms of application are as follows:

i. Applicants must hold UK citizenship;

ii. Applicants must state their age in their submission, and provide details of any tertiary education they have undertaken;

iii. Applicants must be active in food or farming journalism and/or communication, or seek a career within it (as evidenced by employment, etc)

iv. The application must relate to educational or professional development. If it takes place overseas, any event must be endorsed by the IFAJ or ENAJ;

v. Applicants should state the value of the grant they are requesting;

vi. Trustees invite the applicant to demonstrate how they will be able to share, and report on, the subject of their grant application, to BGAJ members and through the UK agricultural media;

vii. The course, or event, must be within 12 months of the date of the application.

Trustees will award a grant (or grants) on the strength of the applications received. Each application will be assessed against the Trust’s guidelines.

The total grant fund available is £1500, but Trustees are under no obligation to make an award if, in their opinion, there are no applications that meet the requirements of the Fund.

The 2018 Application form is available as both a Word Document and a PDF. The closing date for applications is Friday, 18 May 2018.