USC Annenberg announced this week that applications are now being accepted for Knight Grants for Reporting on Religion and American Public Life.

The competition, sponsored by the Knight Program in Media and Religion, provides funding for projects that explore how religion -- morals, values, spirituality, and the search for meaning -- shapes responses to social issues in the United States.

Applications are due July 1, 2012. For more information about Knight Grants and to apply, visit the website.

Those eligible for the grants include: staff reporters, affiliated freelancers and self-employed web journalists who work in the US and cover politics, social, and cultural issues. Generalists and religion specialists also are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will be awarded grants up to $20,000 to subsidize travel, living, and miscellaneous costs. Grants will be awarded through an application process overseen by the Knight Program in Media and Religion and are made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation.

“Religion plays a key role in mobilizing support for all kinds of social issues, but the news media focuses on the culture war,” said Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC Annenberg. “I’d like to see news about religion’s role in areas that vitally affect Americans, including healthcare, immigration, housing and community organizing.”

Grant recipients will develop stories for delivery on multiple platforms. Awards will be announced September 2012, and projects must be complete by June 2013.

The Knight Chair in Media and Religion, established in 2002 by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, participates in a wide range of activities, including the organization of conferences for working journalists and the sponsorship of events for the local community. Dr. Winston addresses a host of issues surrounding religion and media through her writing and public speaking, as well as her development of coursework and symposiums. Through these outreach activities, USC Annenberg has begun to emerge as a hub for re-visioning how the pressÑand society itselfÑthinks about and reports on religion.