The Knight Program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism is accepting applications until July 1st, for the Knight Grants for Reporting on Religion and Public Life. These grants, which would range from $5,000-$20,000, are for those currently working as journalists and who are seeking to explore how religion shapes social issues.

Knight Grants for Reporting on Religion and American Public Life, sponsored by the Knight Program at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, provides funding for projects that explore how religion — morals, values, spirituality and the search for meaning — shapes responses to social issues, including housing, health care, poverty, sexuality, immigration, economic equity, and civil rights in the US.

Stories can explore how religion, religious institutions and religious people (1) effect change in on-the-ground social, political, and economic conditions; (2) circulate ideas and ideologies; and (3) promote or inhibit social welfare and the common good. Projects also can look at individuals and movements that are spiritual, as opposed to institutionally religious. Reporting should address underlying dynamics including political power, conflict, the search for meaning, and the construction of community.

The grants, from $5,000 to $20,000, are funded by the Ford Foundation and can be used to subsidize travel, living and miscellaneous costs. Journalists, including staff reporters, affiliated freelancers and self-employed web journalists, who cover politics, social and cultural issues as well as generalists and religion specialists are encouraged to apply.

Read the full announcement of this opportunity here.