Programs for Journalists

Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting

The mission of the Metcalf Institute is to promote clear and accurate reporting of
scientific news and environmental issues; to strengthen understanding and working relationships between members of the scientific community and members of the news media; and to provide opportunities for beginning journalists to learn, on both a formal and an informal level, how to improve their skills in marine and environmental reporting.

The Metcalf Institute provides fellowships each year for journalists in print, broadcast, and
electronic media to learn about science and the research process, from interpreting marine and environmental issues to understanding the principles of scientific research.

Metcalf programs include:

Annual Workshop for Journalists, a one-week immersion workshop that provides 10 journalists with basic scientific training in the field and laboratory.

News Executives Roundtable: Covering Climate Change, a one day workshop for top news executives in which leading climate scientists and economists outlined the science underlying one of the most important issues facing us today.

Scientists and Journalists: Getting the Point Across, an annual lecture series for the public, scientists, and journalists about environmental and scientific news and journalism.

Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting (42 weeks) for early career minority reporters to study science and report at a radio, television, or print news outlet.

Metcalf Institute administers the $75,000 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment. Launched in 2005, the Grantham Prize is annually awarded for exemplary nonfiction work originally produced within the United States or Canada that covers environmental issues. The purpose of the prize is to encourage outstanding coverage of the environment, to recognize reporting that has the potential to bring about constructive change, and to broadly disseminate the Prize-winning story to increase public awareness and understanding of issues focusing on the environment. The prize, funded through The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, is the largest journalism cash prize in the world.

Environment Writer, an online archive of backgrounders for journalists who report on the environment.