✈️ Apply for a Summit travel stipend
While we’ve worked hard to ensure ticket prices to the 2024 Independent News Sustainability Summit are affordable for our members, we know that conference travel can get expensive. So we’re offering $600 travel stipends to LION members, specifically prioritizing Focus Members and those in our Micro-tier, to help subsidize the cost of attending the Summit.
We’ll host two open calls for applications. Our first call is open today through May 5 at midnight PT, and the second will be announced closer to the event.
Apply for a travel stipend, and feel free to contact us at [email protected] with questions.
– Anika Anand, LION’s deputy director
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2024 Summit
We’re thrilled to announce that the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will be a Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 Independent News Sustainability Summit.
“This Summit is the must-attend event for everyone who wants to engage in thoughtful, smart conversations about the sustainability of local and independent news,” said Duc Luu, director of Sustainability Initiatives at the Knight Foundation’s Journalism program.
We’ve also signed on some key partners who will help us make the event a big success: Programming partners American Journalism Project, Online News Association, and Institute for Nonprofit News.
We’re grateful for the support of additional Summit sponsors –– The Carol Oppenheim and Jerome S Lamet Charitable Fund, The Reynolds Journalism Institute, The Google News Initiative, Indiegraf, and BlueLena. Want to join them in sponsoring the premiere event for independent news publishers? Learn more.
Want to buy a ticket? Register.
LION Awards
🏆 Here’s an update we hope will make your day: We’re extending the 2024 LION Awards submission deadline to 11:49 p.m. PT on Monday, April 22! That means you have an additional seven days to submit your application(s).
Read our award categories and criteria. Finalists and winners will be recognized at our Awards Ceremony in Chicago!
The future of the Sustainability Audit
Since 2021, we’ve completed 350 Sustainability Audits and Progress Reports, and 93 percent of Audit recipients have told us the roadmap the Audit provides makes them feel more confident in their organization’s ability to reach sustainability. And now we’re planning for the next phase of our Audit’s development: how to make it available to every single LION member who wants one. Our Director of Data and Evaluation Chloe Kizer shares her vision for how to do that.
10 resources for independent publishers
1. Tell stories with data. The Data Institute will host a free, interactive workshop from July 8–19 in Washington, D.C., for students, journalists, and educators interested in using data, design, and code in journalism. (Apply by Apr. 25)
2. Indicate interest in a LION peer group. Led by our 2024 community ambassadors, these six groups center shared experiences and will meet monthly via Zoom. (Apply by Apr. 26)
3. Strengthen your news product management skills. Apply for the News Product Alliance’s News Product Management Certification, a rigorous, part-time, and virtual program for mid to senior-level news professionals looking to boost their product development and innovation skills. (Apply by May 2)
4. Reel in more revenue. Todd Stauffer, the executive director of the Association for Alternative Newsmedia and a LION Audit analyst, has published a playbook to help local news publishers monetize their operations, covering everything from paid subscriptions to native advertising.
5. Get started with grant writing. Sign up for The Lenfest Institute’s free, four-week email newsletter course that will guide you through the grant writing process.
6. Find connection. The Trans Journalist Association has announced a new mentorship program to support trans journalists’ professional development; TJA members can schedule office hours with later-career volunteers to discuss various topics.
7. Hire help for identity-based reporting. RJI Fellow Ariel Zych has created a guide covering what sensitivity readers do and why, and how to find someone based on the support and experience you need.
8. Complete our (short!) election support survey. LION is teaming up with fellow journalism-support organizations to gather feedback on the products and services that would best support you this election season.
9. Convert readers into customers. Read Inbox Collective’s 11 tactics to drive reader revenue (complete with real-life examples and use cases).
10. Develop an AI ethics policy. With this template from Poynter, you can build an AI policy for your newsroom that prioritizes “accuracy, transparency, and audience trust.”
What we’re reading
Scaling up local. ProPublica is expanding its partnerships with local news organizations to publish accountability journalism in every state within the next five years. (ProPublica)
“Total journalism reach.” How The 19th created a custom approach to meaningfully track reader engagement beyond traditional website metrics. (Columbia Journalism Review)
Vantage point. Pro tip: When applying for grants, focus on the problem the foundation wants to solve and explain how you can help. (Editor & Publisher)
Guide and grants. The Listening Post Collective’s playbook is available to anyone interested in meeting community information needs, and news organizations using this guide can apply for up to $30,000 in microgrants. (Nieman Lab)
Press Forward funding. On April 30, Press Forward will open applications for funding from its Pooled Fund, offering general operating support to newsrooms in one of the initiative’s priority areas. (Press Forward)
LIONs in the news
This week, we’re celebrating LION members who have been accepted into two programs offered by the Center for Community Media at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Representatives from Khasokhas, City Limits, Documented, Amsterdam News, and Reporte Hispano were selected for the 2024 Elections Reporting Mentorship program.
Staff from Better to Speak, Education in Atlanta, and QCity Metro will participate in the inaugural Fundraising for Community Media program. And kudos to Mississippi Free Press’ Kimberly Griffin and India Currents’ Vandana Kumar for serving as cohort coaches.
Learn more about the Center and its programs:
In other LION member news:
- The Texas Tribune has won its first National Magazine Award.
- Planet Detroit is celebrating its fifth birthday.
- Decaturish, Canopy Atlanta, and The Xylom are finalists for the Atlanta Press Club Awards of Excellence.
How to reach us
When you reply to this email, we all receive it, and you’ll hear back from one of us. You can also email us directly at [email protected].