Kim Wall Memorial Fund

The application for the 2024 Kim Wall Memorial Fund has closed. The awardees will be announced on Kim’s birthday on March 23, 2024. All applicants will receive a decision by late February. If you have any questions, please email Associate Program Manager Taylor Moore at tmoore@iwmf.org.


“We can never get Kim back, but we can see to it that her spirit and will live on, and inspire other young journalists to go out in the world and find the stories. More than ever, we need brave female journalists who give voice to the people that normally never hit the front pages.”

– Ingrid and Joachim Wall

“The undercurrents of rebellion.” That’s how Swedish journalist Kim Wall described her unique approach to reporting on subcultures, broadly defined, around the globe. The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), in partnership with Kim’s family and friends, seek to make sure the kinds of stories Kim loved continue to be told through the Kim Wall Memorial Fund. Whether reporting about Cuba’s underground market for digital content and culture, how the politics of opportunity played out inside Kampala’s emerging Chinatown, or the extent to which women Tamil Tiger combatants in Sri Lanka were failed by the promises of a feminist utopia, Kim introduced us to incredibly interesting people others overlooked. The Memorial Fund helps other journalists with Kim’s adventurous spirit chase down these important, underreported stories.

Kim reported from all over the world in her short but accomplished career as an international correspondent. Her reporting appeared in publications including Harper’s, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, TIME, Slate, Vice and Guardian. Kim was an IWMF fellow and grantee, and received support from the organization in 2016 to report from Uganda and Sri Lanka.

Since 2018, the Kim Wall Memorial Fund has awarded $5,000 reporting grants annually to women and nonbinary journalists whose reporting carries forward Kim’s legacy.Kim Wall

“Kim Wall was a dedicated journalist, and loved by our network of staff and journalists who worked closely with her,” said the IWMF’s executive director Elisa Lees Muñoz. “She was dogged in her pursuit of important and sometimes quirky stories. She was adored by those who knew her.”

The Kim Wall Memorial Fund was established by Kim’s parents, her brother Tom Wall, her partner Ole Stobbe, and her friends Mansi Choksi, May Jeong, Adam Perez and Dhiya Kuriakose. Donations can be made here.

This fund was developed in the spirit that Kim would have wanted more women to be out in the world, brushing up against life. Through this grant, the IWMF seeks to help bend the world toward Kim’s vision.

The world needs more reporters like Kim who encourage curiosity and empathy between communities. I am honored to take part in this celebration of her life and work and humbled to be entrusted with carrying her journalistic legacy forward.

-Anne Kristine Hermann, Inaugural Grantee

Celebrating Kim’s Life on Her Birthday

Each year on her birthday, Kim’s friends and family gather to celebrate and announce the recipients of the next Kim Wall Memorial Fund Grantees. Below, watch the 2023 virtual celebration to learn about the 2023 grantees, hear from Kim’s brother, Tom, as well as get updates on the work of 2020 grantee Mia Alberti.

Kim pursued the kind of writing she wanted to, the stories that were of deep interest and importance to her. She had faith in her own voice and didn’t buy into the idea of a perfect story. Like her, I want to pursue stories that challenge perceptions of people and places who are underrepresented.
Clair MacDougall 2020 Kim Wall Grantee