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the Free CMSWire NewsletterGoogle showed love for digital journalism back in October by announcing plans to invest US$ 5 million in grants to related non-profit organizations. Today US$ 2.7 million of it went towards sponsoring the International Press Institute's (IPI) News Innovation Contest.
Keeping Journalism Alive
IPI's contest aims to find and fund progressive ideas that will have a lasting impact on the future of digital journalism in communities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Grants will be awarded to both non-profit and for-profit organizations, including open source and mobile projects created by or for journalists.
“Journalism is an immensely important part of our societies. In the era of the Internet it’s important that innovation in journalism continues to flourish and we're keen to help encourage that,” said Peter Barron, Google Director of External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We’re very pleased to be working on this project with the IPI, an organization which has a great history of addressing the issues that affect journalism.”
The other half of the US$ 5m went to the Knight Foundation back in October for expanding the funding of its existing efforts as a financial resource for journalists. At the time, Google representatives weren't sure where the rest of the money would go, but did say they hoped to inject it on an international level (goal accomplished!).
“It’s really quite a wonderful — not just a wonderful endorsement, but a wonderful encouragement,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight’s president, in October. “Because they’re not saying, ‘We want you to do X, Y, and Z projects.’ They’re saying, ‘We want you to continue the kind of work you’ve been doing — except do more of it.’”
Proposals from the EMEA region will be accepted from today until June 1st, and must fit into one of three categories: News Platform, Sustainability and Training. You can participate by submitting a proposal here.
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