Why Project Zoom?
The way we tell stories can have strong effects on the community of people we reach out to. Making an impact through storytelling means reaching a target audience with powerful stories with the aim of raising awareness, striving for change and possibly having a real impact on the society we live in.
Project Zoom aims at bringing out stories that are generally overlooked, focussing on underreported issues that nevertheless might be impactful for the people they reach out to.
What’s in Project Zoom?
Targeted guidance, effective network and financial support of up to USD 7,000 for communication professionals wanting to embark on new exciting projects!
Who is Project Zoom designed for?
Independent journalists, freelancers and communication professionals who want to explore a different angle of their work, with a focus on the impact they have on their audience and society more broadly.
We look for out-of-the-box stories on:
02
Gender
03
Sustainability
04
Migration
05
Social Innovation
06
Public Health
07
Energy
13 February
Launch event – Applications
are open!
15 May
Application
Deadline
the first week of August
Winners
announcement!
August - November
Hands-on
project work
13 February
Launch event – Applications
are open!
15 May
Application
Deadline
the first week of August
Winners
announcement!
August - November
Hands-on
project work
Ayşe Sabuncu
Ayşe Sabuncu, is the co-founder of Impact Hub Istanbul. Having started her career in the banking industry, she served at Citi in New York for 5 years. While working therei, she took part in a fundraising project (Gençlere Değer Projesi by Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı), for which she climbed Kilimanjaro Mountain with her friends. This experience gave another direction to her life. In 2014, she started working on microfinance with Kiva in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where she was introduced to Impact Hub. Two years later, Ayşe and her partners founded Impact Hub Istanbul. Ayşe completed her undergraduate studies with a major in computer
Ayşe Toprak
Ayşe Toprak, is a filmmaker based in Istanbul. After 9 years with Al Jazeera, Ayşe is now working as a freelancer. She particularly focuses her work on documentaries that explore issues that are left behind or generally overseen by the public. In 2016, she started to work on her first feature length documentary, Mr. Gay Syria, which attended over 140 international film festivals and won 15 awards, half of which were given for its human rights enhancement. She attained a BFA in Film&TV from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and an MA from the Media Studies department at the New School.
Damla Özlüer
Damla Özlüer is a former journalist and Project Director of Myra. She worked with several national and international companies and NGOs, took part as advisor, curator, editor and manager in social projects for 17 years. She is the representative of international social good advertising agencies network DNS in Turkey. She shares her experiences on corporate and social communication via various panels and seminars as well. Damla continues her live radio show on social good communication “Hemzemin” with her partner Rauf Kösemen on Açık Radyo. She graduated from the communication faculty in Near East University.
Doğa Tamer
Doğa Tamer, is one of the founding Board Members of Sustainability Steps Association, where she is now Secretary General. For 20 years, she volunteered for Engelliler.biz Platform, to support hearing and visually impaired people, children with autism, and people with spine injuries. In 1999, she contributed to the Radikal Newspaper's Culture and Art page. In 2010, she started working as Project Manager for the Turkish Women Entrepreneurs Association, from where she resigned as Deputy Secretary General. Between 2016-2018, she worked as a freelance editor and illustrator. From 2018 to 2019, she was Strategy and Policies Director at the YANINDAYIZ Association. She attained a BBA in Economics at Marmara University.
Eylem Yanardağoğlu
Eylem Yanardağoğlu, is associate professor and head of the New Media department at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, where she teaches courses like Introduction to New Media, New Media Theories, Social Media and Online Journalism. Having published extensively on the state of Turkish media and journalism, she continues her research on issues related to citizenship, digital literacy, international communication and digital journalism. She attained her MSc in Sociology at METU, while her MA in International Journalism as well as PhD at City University of London.
Mehmet Atakan Foça
Mehmet Atakan Foça, founded Teyit, an impartial and independent fact checking organization, in 2016. He has been a journalist since 2009. After an internship with Bianet in 2011, he was the editor of Amnesty International's Refugee TV project. After an internship with BBC Turkey in 2013, his interest moved towards the future of digital journalism, mobile journalism and journalism. Atakan pioneered the Turkish translation of the Verification Handbook. The fact checking work he performed on Twitter was awarded the Media Incentive Special Award by the Transparency International. In 2017, he was selected as a fellow by Ashoka, the largest social entrepreneurship network in the world. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara University.
Discover how to turn your ideas into out-of-the-box stories by browsing additional content about this program.
FAQs
YES, we require previous experience in media and/or communication projects, but it is not required to demonstrate past work in a specific media format.
YES, as long as you are based in Turkey and you are willing to present a project related to Turkish territory.
We request applicants to include in the application form two previous media and/or communication projects they have been involved in.
YES. We encourage the use of multimedia and creative approaches.
YES, projects will be considered eligible if they present some links with one of the following topics: migration, innovation, gender equality, sustainability, climate crisis and energy.
NO, we would still accept your application as long as you will be able to allocate necessary time to accomplish project results.
NO, we accept applications from teams too. The team leader can fill out the application form and include other team members in the personnel section of the project budget document, if needed.
YES, the project application will still be considered as long as the media product you develop is original, that is to say made expressly for this project and never published before.
