Public Call for the Local Media Support Program in Serbia

The call is open within the ongoing project titled “Media Strategy Tailored to Citizens /2026-2031/,” funded by the European Union. Its activities in the part of supporting local media are aimed at strengthening the capacities of local media to improve media production in the context of two key thematic areas:

• public funding of local media through competitions for co-financing projects and financing local media from other public sources (advertising, public tenders, etc.)

• the safety of journalists, especially female journalists in local media.

Download  the detailed text of the call.

MANDATORY ACTIVITIES OF SELECTED MEDIA – RECIPIENTS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT:

• Participation of media representatives in thematic workshops

Participants (journalists are required) from each media outlet will attend two one-day workshops – one on the topic of financing local media from public sources, and the other on the topic of the safety of journalists, especially female journalists in local media.

• Preparation and publication of analytical stories with multimedia elements

Each media outlet is required to publish 5 (original) analytical stories on both topics of the call/workshops (not news or reports on daily events or similar shorter forms), which will include multimedia elements to make them more appealing to the audience and attractive for promotion on social media.

During the story preparation phase, each selected media outlet will have access to mentorship and consultations with experts on the two key topics of the call/workshops, as well as journalistic support during the draft phase of the stories.

• Mini-campaigns to raise awareness that include the promotion of analytical stories

Each media outlet will carry out social media campaigns to raise public awareness in their local communities about the issues focused on by the project. In addition to promoting the stories produced within this project, the campaigns will also contain additional original posts.

TIMELINE OF ACTIVITIES

The expected start of project activities for all selected media is September 1, 2025.

Supported projects must not last less than 8 months or longer than 12 months from the expected start date of project activities.

DISTRIBUTION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES

The total available funds for financial support amount to 80,000.00 EUR and will be distributed among 20 selected local media outlets. Therefore, the amount of financial support per individual media outlet is exactly 4,000.00 EUR, which should be taken into account when budgeting.

GENERAL CONDITIONS THAT APPLICANTS MUST MEET

The official applicant is expected to be the founder/publisher of the media (whose details are required in the application form and with whom the grant agreement will be signed). Although the formal grantee, the founder/publisher of the media must designate their media, which must be legally registered, as the entity responsible for implementing the project in cooperation with the grant providers.

Partnerships are not anticipated within this call.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The applicant is obliged to inform themselves about the call by reviewing the detailed text of the call.

The applicant must submit the following documentation:

• Completed form/ questionnaire (Word document)
• Completed budget form (with narrative explanations of individual items)
• Scanned copy of the applicant's registration document from the Business Registers Agency
• Scanned copy of the media registration document from the Media Register
• Financial reports for 2023 and 2024.

Mandatory application documentation must be submitted in electronic format (Word and PDF) to program@nuns.rs with the email subject: Media Name_Support Program "Tailored to Citizens".

The deadline for submitting completed forms and documentation is August 4, 2025, by 23:59 CET.

Questions regarding the call can be sent until July 18, 2025 to the email addresses listed in the detailed text of the call.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PROJECT PROPOSALS

After confirming the fulfillment of administrative criteria, the evaluation will focus on the fulfillment of qualitative criteria:

1) Capacity for implementing donor projects,

2) Commitment to ethical standards in reporting and history of reporting on issues related to freedom of expression,

3) Justification of the proposed budget.

Source: NUNS