Grants in response to applications for more than NOK 100 000 in December 2021

December 16 2021

The Fritt Ord Foundation’s list of allocations has been updated to include grants for more than NOK 100 000 in December 2021.

Ayesha Wolasmal. Photo: Darmaltun

This year’s final round of allocations includes an extraordinary number of exciting projects. Altogether, a total of NOK 21 275 000 has been granted for books, exhibitions, documentary films and debate series.

Among the grants, we find several interesting projects that address the latest turn of events in Afghanistan.
Ayesha Wolasmal has received support for the development of “A Good Ally”. Her book is a personal and political account that presents an honest, uncensored picture of Norway and NATO’s long-standing war in Afghanistan, based on the author’s life as a Norwegian-born Afghani who has held a number of key positions on behalf of Norway in Afghanistan.
Anders Sømme Hammer was granted support for production of the documentary film “The Taliban’s Return to Power”. The film discusses the current situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power, with special focus on the situation of women and what is currently happening to human rights as the Taliban’s strict religious legislation and regulations begin to permeate Afghanistan.

See the full list here.

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Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025

March 14 2025

In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalist, editorial teams and media companies in and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary who make a contribution to press freedom through their investigative, independent reporting can be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call

March 6 2025

Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.

Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.

This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.

Norwegians increasingly more positive to computer games

March 5 2025

Norwegians are increasingly more positive to accepting computer games as culture

About 17 per cent have developed a more favourable view of computer games over the past year. Six of ten play computer games, and one of three plays computer games weekly. At the same time, computer games are ranked as having lower status than books and music, for example.
“Computer games deserve more attention and discussion”, contends Joakim Lie of Fritt Ord.

– Computer games are also art

March 4 2025

“The problem with far too many media reports about computer games is that they start begin with sentences like: ‘computer games have come a long way since Pac-Man’,” sighs American computer game critic Jacob Geller.

“Let us first simply agree that computer games are indeed an art form and an expression of culture, and then let us examine the works as part of the history of art and culture.