Expedition Report Writing – Guidance Notes

Reports are vital to the Trust, and providing us with an Expedition Report is a condition of any grant. The report is to be identified by the UT Expedition Grant number, and submitted as an email attachment to the Report Reviewer (report@ulyssestrust.co.uk) not later than 28 days after completion of the expedition. Or if you prefer you can submit your repost via our online form.

The report will be used for publicity purposes, the public face of your expedition, so should:

  • Describe how individuals, your group and unit have benefitted from the experience, particularly in the context of the objectives of The Ulysses Trust. What difference has the experience made? Give examples and quotes. This is the most important part of your report, and explains to readers the true value of the expedition.(In the case of cadet expeditions, also consider input from teachers and parents).
  • Be succinct, informative and engaging as it will be published on The Ulysses Trust website.
  • Be written by a member of the expedition in a journalistic style avoiding service format, abbreviations and jargon. Assume that readers have no prior knowledge about your expedition.
  • Outline objectives, location: dates, participating unit(s), and numbers participating.
  • Explain the challenges that particular individuals and the group faced, highlighting key achievements and interesting incidents. Strong individual stories and quotes are invariably of interest and help bring the report to life.
  • Include at least one quote from a member of the expedition about the impact the expedition has had on them. If appropriate, please include quotes from cadets and veterans who took part in the expedition.
  • Please highlight any individual stories that we could follow-up as a case study to attract/secure future funding. We are particularly interested in cadets who face disadvantage and have benefitted from the expedition experience, and veterans.
  • Please include any details of preparation, fundraising and planning activities that took place prior to deployment.
  • Be supported by pictures, to bring the report to life. There should be at least 4 (preferably more) sharp action photographs including one group shot.  Remember: faces bring photos to life. They should be high definition and preferably accompany the report as attached image files (NOT embedded in an email or the report).
  • Video is also strongly encouraged, preferably uploaded to YouTube or short ’30 second clips’, with the link to it included in your report. Alternatively the video can sent to the Trust via wetransfer.com or a similar file sharing platform.
  • Here’s an example of a recent expedition report that ticks most of the boxes.

Any questions on format or requests for further guidance should be emailed to the Report Reviewer before the report is submitted.

Failure to submit an appropriate report could affect the response to future grant applications.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  1. Reports will be used by the Trust for publicity purposes and will be available in the public domain (ie via this website, social media, publications). To comply with the Data Protection Acts and Copyright Law, you should ensure that individuals featuring in a report are content to be identifiable, parent/guardian/local authority consent given (if relevant), and that those taking photographs are content for them to be used unless they have assigned copyright to the expedition. This will be assumed by The Ulysses Trust, unless advised otherwise. On occasion, we will share these images with our funders and supporters to showcase the benefits of our support.
  2. The Trust also welcomes other material for publicity purposes, such as video diaries, journal or other work which may have formed part of the expedition objectives.