Announcing the Tenacious Journalist Awards 2026!

We're delighted to announce that the Tenacious Journalist Awards, supported by Changing Ideas, will return for a second year.

Every community deserves great journalism: reporting that not only investigates stories and keeps people informed, but inspires action.  

That's why, just over a year ago, we launched the first Tenacious Journalist Awards in partnership with Changing Ideas, founded by David Graham. Together, we set out to fund journalism that sets out not only to uncover the truth, but to drive real change. 

Thanks to Changing Ideas’ generous £100,000 fund, nine outstanding projects were supported this year. We’ve been blown away by the success of the first cohort, tackling issues from opioid use in Tower Hamlets to green energy in Scotland, missing people, miscarriages of justice and the school-to-prison pipeline. 

Tenacious journalism so far has prompted policy discussions in Westminster and Holyrood, built coalitions for change and probably saved lives. Through peer support and one-to-one coaching, the awardees built their confidence and skills while staying laser-focused on the impact of their projects. 

As one participant told us: 

“It felt different to other grant schemes because of the sense of community. It was so smooth, so trusting, so supportive.” 

Another said: 

“The impact I’ve seen from this year’s winners is incredible. It’s inspiring to work alongside people whose reporting is making a real, positive difference to people’s lives.” 

The results of the first Tenacious Journalist Awards surpassed all expectations. So, we're delighted to announce that PINF and Changing Ideas are set to launch a second round: the Tenacious Journalist Awards 2026. 

PINF’s Executive Director, Jonathan Heawood says: "We believe that every community in the UK deserves high quality public interest news. The Tenacious Journalist Awards help us showcase the very best of this and the extraordinary public benefit that it can deliver. We're delighted to be launching a second round with the support of Changing Ideas." 

When, where, how and how much?  

The prize winners will be awarded £10,000 to produce journalism — across any media — which makes the biggest difference to society. In addition, awardees will benefit from up to eight months of coaching and mentoring to boost their journalism's impact.  

To be eligible for the award, applicants need to be an individual journalist or independent news organisation with a turnover below £2m and no commercial or political affiliations.

They must be based in the UK and be focused primarily on public interest news – ethical and impartial journalism that informs and empowers the public. 

The funding may be used to enable new journalism, complete an existing piece of investigative work or a combination of the two. Crucially, the project must highlight a social issue and aim to achieve change.

Applications will open next week, with a deadline of 31^st December 2025. Decisions will be made in January and February, with monthly peer-to-peer sessions running from March. Applicants will be asked to describe:  

• The planned outputs of the project (e.g. articles, a podcast) 

• The short-term changes they expect to see (e.g. raising awareness, prompting debate, uncovering information) 

• The longer-term effects that they hope the project will have (e.g. policy change, changes to practices, funding changes) 

• The approach they will use to maximise their impact (e.g. working with campaigners, producing supporting evidence, engaging policymakers) 

• Three examples of their work that demonstrate their commitment to high-quality ethical journalism with a positive social impact 

• How the award and support would enable their work in ways not otherwise possible. 

The application form will be added to this blogpost next week and announced via the PINF newsletter.  

We can’t wait to see the impact that the next cohort of tenacious journalists will make with their reporting.  

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