Tower Hamlets Slice awarded bursary to fund crucial investigative reporting
Our newsroom has won the Tenacious Journalist Awards, including funding to deliver a deep-dive investigation into the surge of synthetic opioids in Tower Hamlets.
The Tower Hamlets Slice is among the first-ever Tenacious Journalist Awards winners. The Awards aim to support UK journalists and small news organisations to have a positive social impact.
As winners, the Slice team will receive funding for a deep-dive investigation series, and eight months of peer-to-peer collaborative coaching with the other winners.
Our small newsroom team of three is currently community-led and funded, with just one full-time writer. The Tenacious Journalist Awards will allow us to investigate the borough’s synthetic opioid crisis, an important issue we have identified but would not have had the resources to tackle without additional resources.
The Tenacious Journalist Awards is an initiative of Changing Ideas, a social injustice and human rights charity founded by philanthropist David Graham. The Awards are being administered by the Public Interest News Foundation (PINF), a charity which supports ethical and impartial journalism.
The Slice’s track record of impactful investigations helped us win this award. In the past, we’ve investigated topics like the Truman Brewery development, rich doors and poor doors in Poplar, and social housing quotas on the Isle of Dogs. Our most recent investigation was into the closure of community venues in Tower Hamlets.
Editor-in-Chief and founder Tabitha Stapely said, ‘I was bowled over to get the news. We’re such a small team, so this makes a huge difference in being able to investigate an issue that affects some of the most vulnerable in our community.’
‘I want to give a big shout-out too to David Graham – his belief in the importance of investigative journalism means we can make a real difference for Tower Hamlets and even other boroughs facing similar issues.’
The first article in the series will be released in April of 2025, and we will be investigating until October 2025. To be the first to hear the story as it unfolds, subscribe to our newsletter here.
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