CCNow is thrilled to invite journalists everywhere to submit work for the 2025 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards. This is the fifth year for our annual awards program, and every year we’re amazed by the quality and variety of work entrants send our way. Last year, we received more than 1,250 entries from journalists in dozens of countries. Winners came from outlets big and small, and together, their work has represented the leading edge of climate reporting.
Work published or broadcast anytime in 2024 is eligible. There is no fee to enter. Entries will be accepted through Monday, March 31, at 11:59pm US Eastern Time.
Entry submissions will cover 14 subject based categories. This helps elevate work on specific and important aspects of the climate story — for example, solutions, justice, and health. We plan to honor multiple winners in each category, reflecting a range of styles, story lengths, outlet sizes, and geographic regions, to showcase the many ways journalists across the world explored similar subjects.
In addition to the subject-based categories, we’ll honor work in a “Large projects & collaborations” category; our “Emerging Journalists of the Year” category will recognize early-career journalists whose work shows exceptional promise; and, for the first time, we’re accepting public entries for our “Journalists of the Year” award, given to three journalists who demonstrate exemplary commitment to the climate story and whose work has had a transformative impact on our profession.
Like every year, a diverse jury of distinguished journalists — from around the world and representing a variety of outlets and experiences, including many prior CCNow Journalism Award recipients — will select the winning work.
Please help us spread the word, by sharing this opportunity with your newsrooms and professional networks. Learn more about what we’re looking for and enter your work today!
From Us
Prep Your Climate Coverage: Spring Weather. On Wednesday, February 26, join Covering Climate Now and Climate Central for the first session of a new webinar series that will prepare North American journalists to cover severe seasonal weather. Learn more and register.
Training for CCNow Partners. Journalists working for CCNow partner outlets can now apply to receive free, hands-on training in small-group workshops. Apply no later than Wednesday, February 26.
Free access to AFP climate news feed. CCNow and Agence France-Presse are partnering to offer media outlets from Latin America, Africa, and Asia free access to approximately 150 ready-to-publish articles every month, complete with photos, videos, or infographics. Apply before March 11.
The 89 Percent Project. Last week, CCNow announced a year-long effort to shine light on the fact that a huge majority of the global population want their governments to “do more” to fix climate change, even in this fraught political moment. We’ll kick off with a coverage event this April; we invite newsrooms and journalists everywhere to join us. Learn more.
Climate at the Border. In March, CCNow will launch a free, in-depth training and collaborative reporting effort to strengthen climate journalism along the US-Mexico border. Climate at the Border will provide journalists in the region, on both sides of the border, with the tools and confidence to cover urgent challenges facing local communities. Sign up, or send questions to training@coveringclimatenow.org.
Power & Progress newsletter. The latest edition of our new biweekly newsletter, about the politics of the renewable energy transition, explains the disproportionate burden that Black and brown communities will bear amid federal climate and environmental policy rollbacks. Check out our Power & Progress archive, for fact-checks, expert perspectives, story ideas, and more, and sign up to get the newsletter every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
NOAA in the crosshairs. The Trump administration is seeking to halve the workforce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that houses the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center and which is looked to worldwide as a reliable source for accurate weather and climate information. The potential cuts are consistent with plans from Project 2025 to break up and privatize components of NOAA, in large part due to its role in climate change research. By Scott Waldman for E&E News (republished here in Scientific American)…
“Like a plane losing its pilot.” 9News, KUSA in Denver, Colo., digs into the wide-rippling effects of cuts to NOAA. National Weather Service data is critical to informing weather forecasts nationwide, extreme weather warnings, home insurance rates, and much more; the data is so integrated with aspects of daily life that its loss or degradation could lead to “a free-for-all of incorrect and unsafe [weather] information.” The network’s meteorologist, Chris Bianchi, compares the NOAA and National Weather Service cuts to “a plane losing its pilot.” By Spencer Soicher, for 9News in Denver…
Opposed but unheeded. Of the 1,000-some comments submitted to the Georgia Public Service Commission, the organization responsible for regulating the state’s energy, 90% opposed Georgia’s energy and power plan, with 42% specifically citing fossil fuels as a concern. Yet the plan moved forward unchanged, with its heavy reliance on fossil fuels intact. By Kala Hunter & Margaret Walker for the Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Ga.…
Bhutan’s climate paradox. Thanks to forests covering 70% of the country, Bhutan captures three times more carbon dioxide than it emits, making the Himalayan kingdom the world’s first “carbon negative” country. Still, Bhutan can’t escape the consequences of emissions by other countries. Melting glaciers threaten tsunami-like flooding, and unusually dry winters are reducing water flow to dams, forcing Bhutan to import coal-fired electricity from India. From Al Jazeera’s 101 East…
Extinctions rising. The slender-billed curlew, a species of shorebird that once populated swaths of Europe, Africa, and Asia, is among the animal and plant species that scientists declared extinct, or regionally extinct, in 2024. Others include a Swiss fish, the Ethiopian fox, seven plants in Bangladesh, and four plants in Egypt. The losses signify a collective failure of international conservation efforts, scientists say, leading to biodiversity loss that’s exacerbated further by climate change. By John R. Platt for The Revelator…
Resources, Events, Etc.
Press call, re: Greenpeace lawsuit. On Thursday, February 20 at 10am US Eastern Time (3pm GMT), Greenpeace USA, along with Greenpeace International and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, will host a press call to discuss an upcoming lawsuit in which Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, alleges that Greenpeace USA orchestrated the 2016 protests against the pipeline, and is suing the group for damages amounting to $300 million. The case stands to have major implications for free speech and climate activism moving forward; it will go to trial on February 24. Journalists interested in attending the press call should contact Justice Brown-Duso at jbrown-duso@burness.com.
Middlebury on climate finance. On Wednesday, March 12 at 3pm US Eastern Time (8pm GMT), the Middlebury Institute of International Studies will host a webinar, “Climate Finance: How to Pay for the Trillions Needed,” in which a Middlebury professor will detail the cost of global decarbonization initiatives, debates about who should pay, and more. Learn more and register.
Narratives and climate solutions. On Wednesday, February 26 at 12pm US Eastern Time (5pm GMT), the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication will host a webinar, “The Power of Narrative: How Storytelling Can Amplify Climate Solutions,” to explore how to “[elevate] effective climate solutions, counter defeatist narratives, engage diverse audiences, and help people connect individual and collective actions to broader change.” (Panelists include longtime CCNow friend and co-chair of our Steering Committee, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson.) Learn more and register.
Jobs, Opportunities, Etc.
National outlets. The New York Times is hiring a climate adaptation reporter and a climate policy reporter (both Washington, D.C.). The Washington Post is hiring a climate graphics reporter (apply by February 20; D.C.) and a health and science editor (apply by February 21; D.C.). Reuters is hiring a climate science fellow (New York; apply by Feb. 28). CNN is hiring a senior writer and reporter for climate & weather (hybrid, based in any of five American cities).
Local outlets. The Miami Herald is hiring a senior politics reporter (Miami, Fla.). The Baltimore Banner is hiring a reporter to cover Baltimore County, Md. The Modesto FOCUS, part of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, is hiring an accountability reporter (Modesto, Calif.). Colorado Public Radio is hiring a climate solutions editor (Denver, Colo.).
The Metcalf Institute has extended the application period for its Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists in Rhode Island, from June 8–13. The deadline is now by Monday, February 17. Learn more and apply.
The Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder is accepting applications for its Ted Scripps Fellowship program, a yearlong program during which fellows will “deepen your understanding of environmental issues, hone your craft, and enjoy a break from deadlines while living at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.” The deadline is Saturday, March 1. Learn more and apply.
The 19th is accepting applications for its fourth Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Fellowship cohort. The fellowship, for alums of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, provides full-year, salaried positions in reporting, audience engagement and product management. The deadline is March 31. Learn more and apply.
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