DEADLINE: Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism

The JSK Journalism Fellowships has relaunched the Knight-Risser Prize, and this time we’re funding the reporting up front. We’re putting up to $10,000 directly into the hands of a journalist to support an enterprise or investigative environmental story in the western U.S.

Applications open May 6, and close June 2, with a winner selected in early July 2026. 

We want to support strong environmental journalism that brings new issues to light, holds power accountable, and helps people understand what’s at stake. Climate stories are especially welcome right now, but we’re open to a wide range of ideas. Local and regional stories are great, and so is work in any format, whether that’s text, audio, video, or photography. The main thing is that it’s a clear, focused project you can complete in about six months.

The prize is open to reporters, photographers, audio and video journalists, and documentary filmmakers in the U.S. The funding goes directly to you and can be used for reporting costs like travel, time or equipment.

If you’ve been sitting on an idea and just needed support to move it forward, this is the time to go for it. If someone else comes to mind who should see this, we’d appreciate you passing it along.

Apply here