The Mobile Community Zimbabwe (MCZ) project launches its first round of calls for short video and audio reports as well as still pictures in a series of upcoming future calls for content to mark selected national and international events.
Only MCZ alumni will be eligible to send in submissions. Each individual may submit one entry in each of the three story formats per theme.
In this first round of calls, we are interested in stories that tackle the themes of (1) Worker’s Day and (2) World Press Freedom Day.
MCZ welcomes stories tackling questions like: what does Worker’s Day/ World Press Freedom day mean in this day and age in Zimbabwe? Has the meaning and celebration of the day changed over time? Who celebrates it, why and how? Who doesn’t celebrate it, why not and what do they do on this day?
The submission deadlines for this call are as follows:
- Entries for Workers Day deadline: 2 May 2016, midnight Central African Time
- Entries for World Press Freedom Day deadline: 5 May 2016, midnight Central African Time.
- Pictures for either theme may be sent at any point, before or on the day of the event.
Reports have a higher chance of being picked if they are creative, out of the box and go beyond the usual story. Interested individuals can either send their submission as a link to their Youtube/ SoundCloud channel or as an .mp file to natasha@mobilecommunityzim.org
A professional team will review all submissions and select the best reports for publication on the MCZ platforms using the following criteria:
- Originality encompassing how fresh the idea is
- Relevance – how important the issue is in view of context
- Technical aspects related to steadiness, lighting, sound, sequencing and composition. There has to be a clear story structure.
- Pictures should be striking, out of the ordinary and tell a story. They should also be accompanied by a brief description of what’s happening or context. *We strongly encourage you to enter original pictures taken by you, because we will check this.
Video and Audio reports meeting the standard and selected for publication will be remunerated with 50 USD, while for selected pictures, 20 USD will be paid.
Please note that selection of content is autonomous and MCZ will not automatically use all or any of the reports submitted, and will select according to the expected standard.
Producers of selected submissions stand a chance of winning a place in our upcoming MCZ Master Class, for which places are limited and thus competition will be high.
Individuals selected for the Master Class will have the opportunity to hone their skills further and earn regular income as a stringer for MCZ until end of this year.
Other factors will be considered, such as the applicant’s track record and general performance in the project, levels of demonstrable interest and commitment to the project, as well as quality of previous work.