National Parks: New Perspectives’ bursaries now open for entries

1 October 2021

Campaign for National Parks is looking for the next generation of National Park communicators to share their stories of National Parks in England and Wales as part of a National Parks: New Perspectives bursary scheme.

The scheme, run in partnership with Ocean City Media,  will provide funding of £1,000 each to five early career communicators (aged 19–35) to help them tell compelling factual stories based about People, Climate and Nature in National Parks.

“From film-making and long-form journalism to audio interviews and infographics, the National Parks: New Perspectives scheme is about enabling people to delve into issues affecting National Parks.” said Laura Williams, Campaigns and Communications Manager for Campaign for National Parks, the only independent charity dedicated to campaigning for National Parks in England and Wales.

“We understand the importance and power of reporting stories from National Parks to inspire people to love and care for these protected landscapes. From previous projects we’ve run and our ongoing engagement with diverse communities, we also know the importance of making space for – and amplifying – voices of younger people and under-represented groups, offering paid opportunities to develop their storytelling skills. We’re very excited to see the results of this new programme.”

The National Parks: New Perspectives bursaries were made possible thanks to a major donor’s contribution and supporters donating to a crowdfunder appeal earlier this year, which was fund-matched by the John Spedan Lewis Foundation. Working closely with our newest corporate partner, Ocean City Media, we’re able to offer five bursaries of £1,000 each in this first round, alongside training and mentoring from industry experts.

Based near Dartmoor National Park, Ocean City Media was founded by a brilliant team of BBC journalists and expert storytellers. They will help deliver a pre-application workshop on 19 October 2021, offering guidance on how to create a strong application; they will also run a tailored storytelling workshop for the bursary holders and be on hand for mentoring for the duration of the bursary (Dec 2021–Mar 2022).

Ocean City Media’s Managing Director Sam Smith said: “Ocean City Media is delighted to partner with Campaign for National Parks to support this bursary scheme. Stories told by authentic and diverse voices have a unique power and it’s a real privilege to help nurture the next generation of National Park communicators.”

The scheme is now open for applications and will close on Thursday 4 November 2021. There is a pre-application online workshop at 6pm on Tuesday 19 October 2021, please register for your free place here.

For more information, or to apply to Campaign for National Parks’ a National Parks: New Perspectives bursary, see here.