Helsingin Sanomat Foundation 20th Anniversary Grant Call
Funds Finnish journalism, media literacy, and AI literacy projects addressing the public information landscape.
⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
Helsingin Sanomain Säätiö (the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation) marked its 20th anniversary in 2025 with a special directed grant call seeking proposals to strengthen journalism amid technological, economic, cultural, and geopolitical disruption. The call was announced on 1 October 2025, with a submission deadline of 14 November 2025. The foundation distributed a maximum of EUR 1 million across all awards. Decisions were announced on 3 December 2025, with nine grants totalling EUR 1,017,500 awarded; individual grants ranged from EUR 17,500 to EUR 250,000. Funded projects run through 2026.
The call accepted two types of proposals: research proposals addressing challenges in Finnish journalism and media, requiring a research plan and principal investigator CV; and innovation implementation proposals, requiring a detailed implementation plan with timeline and named responsible parties. Eligible applicants included researchers, educational institutions, industry practitioners, and students. Unlike the foundation's standard rolling programme, this call used a single-stage application process and accepted submissions in both Finnish and English. The foundation specified that it does not fund core operations; projects must benefit the entire journalism field or contribute to building its future.
The call's thematic priorities — journalist profitability, media literacy, and AI opportunities in journalism — reflect the foundation's focus on sustaining quality public-interest journalism in Finland. This special call is now closed; the EUR 1,017,500 in awards provides a useful data point for the scale of the foundation's directed calls, and organisations working in journalism research or media innovation in Finland should monitor hssaatio.fi for future anniversary or special-topic calls. The foundation's CEO Laura Saarikoski (laura.saarikoski@hssaatio.fi, +358 40 52 64 246) is the primary contact for programme enquiries.
Projects strengthening journalism quality and sustainability amid technological, economic, cultural, and geopolitical change, including AI opportunities, media literacy, and journalist profitability.
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