How to fund your PressPad stay

The whole point of our hosting-mentoring programme is to lower the barriers of entry to journalism that shut so many diverse voices out of the media.

Many organisations offer low-paid (and sadly, unpaid) internships or work experience opportunities and don’t consider the financial burden of commuting, relocating, and accommodation.

Your employer as a funder

Our aim is to remove the priciest burden from that list: accommodation. We believe that interns shouldn’t have to pay for this. We partner with media organisations who are willing to cover the costs of their interns’ accommodation through our host-mentorship scheme.

Unfortunately, some media organisations can’t afford to do this (because they’re a small, independent outlet or charitable organisation) or simply choose not to (and we’re lobbying them to change that!). But we don’t want these interns to either fork out hundreds or thousands of pounds to fund their stay, or miss out on the opportunity entirely.

That’s why, if your stay isn’t funded by your employer, we will support you to find alternative funding elsewhere: be it from media diversity schemes, bursaries, or even the PressPad charitable foundation. We’ll point you in the right direction and give feedback on any application you make to funding providers.

Other funding options:

There are so many funding opportunities out there that aren’t widely publicised or that interns don’t know about. We want to make the process easier for you so we’ve collated a list of options for you to explore. Please make sure to check the eligibility criteria and deadline of each one, and do let us know of any that we’ve missed out!

PressPad Charitable Fund

PressPad, the social enterprise, sets aside 10% of our revenue towards subsidising hosting for those who qualify as coming from a low socio-economic background. We also work with our charitable foundation to raise money for this community fund, which exists so that interns without an organisation as a sponsor are not left behind.

Check this page out to learn more.

BCTJ Placement Assistance Scheme

Available to students from BJTC-accredited courses who would most benefit from a one-off bursary of £250 to help them take up industry placements.

Find out more here.

Journalists’ Charity First Jobs Fund

Offers early-career journalists support with essential costs such as accommodation, moving home, transport and essential work-related equipment. The charity also has other available bursaries on their website you might want to check out too.

Find out more here.

ScreenSkills Bursaries

A cash grant to remove the obstacles to getting into the screen industries – broadcasting, TV, film – or progressing your career. You can apply for money to pay for training fees, accommodation, care, disability access costs, equipment, software and travel.

Find out more here.

A Writing Chance

Mentoring and a bursary of £1,500 for storytellers who are underrepresented in the media. Ending with a byline or a podcast.

Find out more here.

The Supporting Act Creative Bursary

Open to students from marginalised backgrounds in their final year of an undergraduate degree, this bursary opens up opportunities to explore career opportunities across arts and technology. Includes bursaries of €10,000, which will go toward tuition fees, living costs, study materials, or other educational costs.

Find out more here.

The Printing Charity

Offers grants to people working in the print industries or allied trades, tailored to applicants’ specific needs and circumstances. Find out more here. They also offer a £1,500 Rising Star award to emerging talent in the sector.

Royal Television Society bursaries

The Royal Television Society offers a television production and journalism bursary, a digital innovation bursary, and the Beryl Vertue Scholarship for television production – all available for undergraduates from low-income backgrounds. Awards range from £1,000 to £2,000 per academic year, and include an industry mentor and RTS membership.

RTS has produced a handy guide on how to apply.

16-19 Government Bursary Fund

A bursary to help with education-related costs if you’re aged 16 to 19 and studying at a publicly-funded school or college in England (not a university), or on a training course, including unpaid work experience. This covers things like clothing, books and other equipment for your course, and transport and lunch on days you study or train.

Find out more here.

White Pube Creatives Grant

Open to all working-class creatives in the early stages of their career, to fund materials, time and life expenses. Grants of £500 are available.

Find out more here.

University bursaries

Check with your university to see if they offer bursaries to support students doing summer internships or placements. For example, Northeastern University London offers four bursaries to first and/or second years who have secured an unpaid summer internship.

Local council/charity funding

It’s worth finding out whether your local council, city, or any local charities offers any grants, bursaries for people from underrepresented backgrounds.

Google the name of your local council or region + “bursary young people” and you should see if there’s anything available.

The Borough of Southwark, South London, has a dedicated hub detailing different funding opportunities and awards both offered by the council and local charities, including arts educational grants for under 25s and support from Arts Council England. Ards and North Down Borough Council, Northern Ireland, have a similar page for arts funding. The council and a local charity in Ceredigion, West Wales, together provide an £1,000 grant for young people to pursue their future aspirations.

You might come across wider regional or national grants, too, such as the Student Awards Agency Scotland’s bursary for care experienced students.

These are just some examples. There are options out there but sometimes it just takes a bit of digging to find! Wider charities like the Prince’s Trust have created useful lists of various funding opportunities out there, so it’s worth looking for these as well.

Credit: Fabian Blank on Unsplash

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