How we work
our impact
We offer grants of up to $25,000 to individual journalists and collaborative efforts between all forms of media in Alaska. Additionally, we offer larger grants to major collaborative media projects.
We support training for Alaska journalists through the Alaska Press Club and the University of Alaska-Anchorage Department of Journalism and Public Communications.
Funded Projects
Photo by Adán Hernandez
"Neighbors: Stories from Anchorage's Pandemic Years" Anchorage Museum & Anchorage Daily News
$40,000 grant for the multimedia and community sharing project “Neighbors: Stories from Anchorage’s Pandemic Years,” a collaboration between the Anchorage Museum and the Anchorage Daily News to collect and reflect the experiences of Anchorage residents during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“ANCSA At Fifty” Indian Country Today, Alaska Public Media, Anchorage Daily News
$60,000 grant for coverage of the fiftieth anniversary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Winner of the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens speaks with Willie Hensley. (Photo courtesy of the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center)
Brenda Evak on Nome’s Steadman Street (Photo by Jenna Kunze, fall 2020).
“Seeking Protection, Wanting Justice: Disparities in Sexual Assault Crimes in Nome” KNOM radio
$13,000 grant for coverage exploring the community dynamics around sexual assault in Nome and efforts to heal long-standing unequal treatment
“Mental Health Mosaics: Colonization and Mental Health” Anne Hillman/Alaska Public Media, OUTNORTH
$15,000 for reporting on mental health issues and community engagement.
School counselor talks with junior Jorja Gonzales about her future plans in her office at Benny Benson Alternative High School in Anchorage. (Hillman/Alaska Public Media)
The entrance lobby of the health clinic in Savoonga, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sophia DeSalvo/KNOM)
“COVID-19 in the Bering Strait/Norton Sound Region” Nome Nugget
$21,548 for community-based COVID-19 reporting.
“The economic impacts of climate change on rural Alaska Native communities” Meghan Fate Sullivan/Indian Country Today
$5,000 grant for reporting on resilience and adaptation to climate change in rural Alaska.
Sam Schimmel delivering salmon packages. (Photo courtesy of Meghan Sullivan)
$22,000 to Sol De Medianoche to increase publication of Alaska’s only Spanish language newspaper from semi-monthly to monthly.
“Climate Change and the Bering Strait” Yereth Rosen/Arctic Today
$1,720 grant for reporting on how the changing climate and oceans are affecting life and work in and around Nome as a key strategic point on the Bering Strait.
Mining vessels line the dock at Nome’s small boat harbor. (Yereth Rosen)
Dark blue is the color of ribbon traditionally associated with colon cancer awareness. Alaska Natives have one the highest recorded incidences of colorectal cancer in the world. Among Alaska Natives, precancerous polyps start developing earlier and are more common than in the non-Native population. Metro Creative
“Pulse Magazine: Health Care for Alaskans” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
$15,000 for the expansion of health care coverage
Other ways we support Alaska journalism
training & professional development
We began funding training in 2020. In partnership with the Alaska Press Club and the University of Alaska-Anchorage Department of Journalism and Public Communications, we sponsor training and internship activities for Alaska journalists and journalism students to augment the annual Alaska Press Club Conference. In 2022, we sponsored a Legislative Reporter Exchange in which a Bethel-based reporter from KYUK spent a month covering the Alaska Legislative session in Juneau. We sponsored a University of Alaska Anchorage journalism student to work at KYUK during the same time period. In 2023, our Legislative Exchange program sent a Kenai reporter from radio station KDLL to Juneau and a UAA student to KDLL.
COVID-19 RAPID RESPONSE NEWS ORGANIZATION GRANTS
In an effort to support Alaska news coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, ACE-J awarded $70,000 in grants to 21 newspapers, radio and television stations statewide to help strengthen their ability to serve the public while operating safely. The grants helped to fund laptops, video, audio and other digital equipment so that news organizations could continue to inform the public while reporters and editors worked remotely and in the field.
Grants were awarded to Anchorage Press, Chilkat Valley News, Ketchikan Daily News, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Nome Nugget, Petersburg Pilot, Sitka Sentinel, Skagway News and Wrangell Sentinel newspapers; radio stations KYUK in Bethel, KUAC in Fairbanks, KHNS in Haines, KBBI in Homer, KRBD in Ketchikan, Koahnic Broadcasting and KNBA, KTOO in Juneau, KFSK in Petersburg, KCAW in Sitka, KUCB In Unalaska and KSTK in Wrangell; and KTUU-TV in Anchorage.
Read more about our COVID-19 Rapid Response grants here.