Forty pioneering digital journalism projects have been shortlisted as finalists in the inaugural $1 million African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC). The initiative is the largest fund for digital journalism experimentation in Africa, and is designed to spur solutions to the business, distribution and workplace challenges that face the media industry.
513 applicants were screened by a technical review panel, the LMC’s project was found to be one of 40 which have the best potential for strengthening and transforming African news media, with the potential to be replicated by media elsewhere on the continent.
Projects were assessed for their potential to be replicated by media elsewhere in Africa, or to be scaled up across the continent, to create wide and sustained impact.
“We are thrilled with the broad range of innovation and ideas among the finalists,” says ANIC manager, Justin Arenstein. Arenstein is a Knight International Journalism Fellow, who leads the initiative as part of a wider digital innovation program with Africa’s largest association of media owners and operators, the African Media Initiative (AMI). “The teams with the strongest links to newsrooms and technology partners had an advantage, as did those that could already point to some proofs-of-concept.”
Short-listed finalists include proposals to improve data-driven investigative journalism and the security of journalists or their sources, as well as improve audience engagement, mobile news distribution, data visualization, new revenue models and workflow systems.
Winners will receive cash grants of between $12,000 and $100,000, plus additional business development support, technical mentorship, and marketing support. Winners may also be offered opportunities to pilot their projects in AMI member newsrooms and showcase the results at international conferences or to venture capital funds.
ANIC’s founding partners include Omidyar Network, Google, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the U.S. State Department, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Source: CPAfrica
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