READ THE FULL PROPOSAL GUIDELINES AT: https://hiddencompass.net/pathfinder-prize-proposals/

The 2026 Hidden Compass Pathfinder Prize will award an $18,000 travel and production grant to fund an expedition and short documentary film project, as well as articles written by the expedition team for the November 2026 Pathfinder Prize issue of Hidden Compass: The Magazine. The winning expedition will produce behind-the-scenes content throughout 2026 and will premiere their film at an in-person event in the Bay Area, California.

Exploration societies of the past once funded grand expeditions - but the landscape of discovery has changed. Now, courage and curiosity take the place of dividing lines and flags in the ground, and discovery is about understanding instead of conquering. Through our annual Pathfinder Prize, Hidden Compass is funding a grand expedition of the modern age. Together, we'll re-map the landscape of discovery.

Hidden Compass is a women-founded independent journalism outlet and modern exploration society. We're uniting audiences with the humans, causes, and possibilities behind award­-winning stories and groundbreaking expeditions. (Learn more at https:/ /hiddencompass.net.)

We're interested in exploration in all its forms - scientific, historical, ethical, artistic, and beyond. Our main requirement is that your endeavor connect to an important global conversation. (See previous winning proposals.) We want to know why your project matters and why you and your team are the ones who should see it through.

Hidden Compass champions interdisciplinary storytelling with transformative power. Our Pathfinders are multimedia storytellers who bring our community behind the scenes in digital dispatches, and share the outcomes of their expedition through magazine features and a short documentary film.

Awards & Prizes

$18,000 travel and production grant to fund an expedition and short documentary film project as well as articles written by expedition team for a Pathfinder Prize issue of Hidden Compass: The Magazine.

Rules & Terms

READ THE FULL PROPOSAL GUIDELINES AT: https://hiddencompass.net/pathfinder-prize-proposals/

You and all expedition team members agree that a proposal submitted to Hidden Compass may be shared with members of Hidden Compass: The Alliance, The Nerd Herd, and the public. Information submitted on your separate “Sensitive Information Page” will not be shared without your prior permission.

As a condition of becoming a Pathfinder Prize finalist, all team members will be asked to sign an ethics agreement.

Prize recipients will also be asked to enter into additional agreements with Hidden Compass. These may include, but are not limited to, agreements to assign or license intellectual property rights created during or in connection with the Pathfinder Prize, and to provide Hidden Compass with rights to use any work product or content created by recipients. If the work product or content is revenue generating, or has commercial application, a profit or revenue sharing agreement will be negotiated.