The objective of this EU funding is to offer young Europeans online spaces with curated content, allowing them to compare perspectives from across Europe and discover how their interests link to interests of youngsters in other countries, as well as to relevant EU initiatives.
All projects started in April 2023 and will run for 17/18 months. Projects operate with full editorial independence.
SPHERA Scale-Up
SPHERA Scale-Up builds on the experience gained in SPHERA, which was co-funded in previous editions of this call for proposals. It gathers Babel International and 9 other youth media organisations (Bulle media, Dinamo, Arty Farty, Street Press, El Salto Diario, Krytyka Polityczna, VDNews.tv, 444.hu and Popaganda.gr).
The consortium produces innovative content in at least 7 languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Hungarian and Greek). The project aims to engage youngsters of all sorts, through videos, podcasts, events and engaging social media formats. It mainly targets the age group 16-30 via Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Vimeo, Europod and Spotify.
The project will receive up to EUR 1,94 Mio.
- More information about the project on Sphera’s website.
- Discover Sphera’s channels
ENTR – what’s next? A European Content Creator Network
ENTR also builds on the experience gained in previous grants. It gathers Deutsche Welle, France Médias Monde, RFI Romania, G4media, RTP Portugal, Ringier Axel Springer Polska, Are We Europe, Dir.BG and associated media via its European Content Creator Network ENTR+ to produce content in at least 8 languages (English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Bulgarian, Dutch, soon also Slovakian/Hungarian).
The project mainly aims to target age group 18-34 with videos, articles, events and social media formats. It offers adaptations of existing journalistic content as well as new items on the projects 24 social media accounts on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. ENTR also publishes content on various platforms and websites of the participating media and organises online and offline events.
The project will receive up to EUR 2,79 Mio.
More information about the project and access to its channels on ENTR website.
Perspectives
Perspectives brings together 7 partners to produce daily cross-border stories for youth in at least 8 languages (German, Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Russian) in Goethe-Institute’s Jádu Magazine, Kultura Liberalna, Revue Prostor, Kapitál Noviny, Radio Eper 97.0, Nara and Bendra.LT and other media outlets in Eastern Europe.
Formats of these stories can range from articles to videos and podcasts, targeting the age group 18-30.
The project will receive up to EUR 1,96 Mio.
More information about the project on Perspectives' website.
Be Active, Be Your Change
Be Active, Be Your Change brings together 5 partners (Wirtualna Polska, Delfi.LT, Netinfo.BG, Index.HR and ProTV Romania) to produce daily cross-border content and empower youngster between 15 and 29) with inspiring information in Polish, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Romanian.
The project will contain dedicated websites, articles, videos, surveys, quizzes, and social media formats to do so.
The project will receive up to EUR 2,3 Mio.
More information about the project on Be Active, Be Your Change website.
Related information
Support has been granted following an open call for proposals launched in 2022, implementing the European Parliament Pilot Project "A European public sphere: a new online media offer for young Europeans". It called upon media to establish consortia of at least 5 media organisations from 5 EU Member States. The grant agreements contain an editorial charter to ensure editorial independence.
Another call for proposals is foreseen in autumn 2023 with a budget of EUR 9 million, for projects starting in summer 2024.
For an overview of other grants to news media, see updates on this page.