The Early Childhood Journalism Initiative, a project of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma, is offering a three-day training program and reporting grants for 25 journalists across Australia. This program will deepen journalists’ knowledge of early childhood development and increase their capacity to undertake science-informed ethical reporting on young children and caregivers. Following the in-person program, reporting fellows will pursue projects, receive editorial mentorship and be awarded a $3,000 story grant.

Organised in partnership with the Centre for Journalism and Trauma Asia Pacific (CJT), this program will be grounded in Australian culture and context and will draw on regional and international expertise. It will be the first program of its kind in Australia with a focus on trauma-informed and culturally-aware reporting on children and caregivers from Indigenous, non-Indigenous and newly arrived contexts.

The program will take place in Melbourne November 11-13, 2026. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 15, 2026 at 10:00 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

Journalists and content creators who understand early childhood development are better equipped to report on issues that shape society before children enter school. The early years influence lifelong health, learning and equality, and are closely linked to areas already being reported on, such as housing, child-care, health, disaster recovery, workforce participation and social policy. Without a bio-psycho-social understanding of the early years, reporting can oversimplify complex issues, place undue blame on families, or frame young children only as victims rather than as individuals shaped by systems and policy decisions. This program aims to equip reporters to cover these issues in a more informed, nuanced and innovative way.

This three-day reporting program will bring together journalists for panels, workshops, and skills-based sessions led by researchers, clinicians, child development experts and those reporting in new and innovative ways. The program will explore how to translate complex research and policy debates into rigorous, compelling journalism, and how to approach these topics with care and trauma-informed practice.

The program will offer a forum for knowledge-sharing, source development, and peer-to-peer exchange, and strengthen a global network of journalists committed to reporting on young children and their caregivers with accuracy, depth and sensitivity across Australia.

After the program, participating journalists will receive a $3,000 grant to carry out a story focused on early childhood. They will also receive editorial mentorship over a period of six months as they report on the story.

The Early Childhood Journalism Initiative is a multiyear program that offers journalists around the world access to knowledge, skills, financial support, and other resources to expand and deepen reporting on the youngest children and their caregivers – particularly at the intersection of inequality, education, public health, and social and economic policy.

The Early Childhood Journalism Initiative is made possible through the support of the Van Leer Foundation (Netherlands), Minderoo Foundation (Australia), Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal (Brazil), and The Two Lilies Fund (United States).