Hidden Compass Pathfinder Prize Offers $15,000 to Fund Grand Expedition

Call for Entries Now Open

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hidden Compass, a women-founded media company and modern exploration society, today announced the second annual Hidden Compass Pathfinder Prize, which offers $15,000 in funding for a team of creative modern explorers to embark on a journey of discovery and share their findings with the world. Proposals will be accepted from now until July 20, 2023.

The Pathfinder Prize honors the tradition of exploration societies that funded grand expeditions in the past. However, the prize places a new emphasis on curiosity rather than conquest. The winners of the 2023 Pathfinder Prize are currently on an expedition to Greenland.

The selection process involves a panel of experts reviewing submissions and narrowing them down to two or three finalist teams. Hidden Compass co-founders, Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann, will serve on the advisory panel, emphasizing their commitment to fostering creative exploration.

"We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to explore and discover," said Babu. "We welcome proposals that showcase the diversity of exploration and touch on subjects such as history, science, art, ethics, and more. We're excited to see what creative ideas our applicants bring to the table."

After the finalists are selected, expedition teams will pitch their proposals to Allies, members of Hidden Compass's modern exploration society, The Alliance. Allies will then vote to decide the winner, who will be announced at Hidden Compass's Ethos of Exploration Event in late 2023.

"We're proud to offer the Pathfinder Prize for a second year," says Bergmann. "We're passionate about creating opportunities for storytellers and explorers to share their unique perspectives and discoveries with the world."

Since its founding in 2017, Hidden Compass has pioneered innovative ways for audiences to participate in both journalism and exploration. Hidden Compass: The Magazine invites readers to see and support the origin of the stories they read, while patronage campaigns allow readers to support the storytellers behind these stories directly.

For more information, visit: https://www.hiddencompass.net/pathfinder-prize.

About Hidden Compass

Hidden Compass is an independent journalism outlet and modern exploration society transforming the way audiences participate in journalism and exploration. Co-founders Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann, who have 25 years of experience in journalism and publishing, launched Hidden Compass in 2017 as an alternative to unhealthy, clickbait-laden content – what they call “junk food media.” In 2020, the company pioneered a unique business model, leveraging patronage campaigns to increase journalists’ pay and audience participation. The following year, readership grew by more than 40 percent, and Newsweek named Hidden Compass a finalist in its Future of Travel Awards. Learn more at https://hiddencompass.net.