The first competition for digital news innovation in Africa
has just been launched and closes in July. Winners will be announced on 10 November 2012.
Winners get cash prizes of up to $100,000 plus business,
technical and marketing support. Finalists will be invited to a camp in Tanzania
in August for workshops with mentors and industry experts.
Proposals can be submitted by news pioneers anywhere in the
world, though they must have an African media partner to help develop and test
the innovation.
This innovation challenge focuses on journalism and the news
media. The organizers are looking for disruptive digital ideas for improving
the way that news is collected and disseminated. This includes tools or
strategies that use the Internet, mobile platforms, data driven journalism,
computer assisted reporting, digitally augmented reality, or other electronic
means to improve the relevance and impact of news media.
Winning ideas should
be focused on providing pragmatic solutions to real challenges facing African
media.
Innovations are being sought in four broad categories: news
gathering; story telling; audience engagement; or the business of news. Within
these categories, the judges will look for ideas with the following goals:
- Strengthen existing media platforms, or harness new digital platforms for engaging audiences and transmitting news other journalistic content.
- Improve the way news reaches audiences, from traditional circulation / airtime management to newer disruptive ‘cross platform’ channels.
- Amplify the relevance and usefulness of news by improving the immediacy, depth and accuracy of journalistic content.
- Enhance the impact and ‘shelf life’ of news by extending its influence and intrinsic value for both audiences and content services.
- Deepen media’s understanding of its audiences and markets by improving user analytics, audience profiling and market segmentation.
- Boost the media’s resource base by diversifying business models, developing new revenue streams or improving operational efficiencies.
Finalists will be invited to the OpenNews Camp in Zanzibar,
Tanzania, in August for one-on-one workshop sessions with business development
mentors and other industry experts. Finalists will use these sessions to refine
and strengthen their proposals, as well as develop implementation plans and
budgets ahead of final judging.
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.
All entries have to be made on the competition website: http://africannewschallenge.org
The African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC), is a
pan-African contest designed to support digital innovation and experimentation
that improves the quality and impact of African journalism. It that aims to
accelerate innovation in news organisations by funding transformational ideas
and then continuing to support them through a network of peers and advisors. It
encourages new digital tools and techniques for ‘making’ news, new ways for
audiences to engage with news, and new models for media organisations to
sustain themselves. The idea is that the contest will support new media
experiments and digital news startups in data driven journalism and
investigative reporting, newsroom management, audience engagement, digital
convergence and media business models.
ANIC is modelled on the Knight News Challenge in the USA,
customised to address the challenges facing African media.
ANIC is run by The African Media Initiative (AMI), the
industry association that is Africa’s largest umbrella body of media owners and
executives. AMI’s mandate is to serve as
a catalyst for strengthening African media by building the tools, knowledge,
and technical capacity for the media to play an effective ‘public interest’ role in African society.
This includes assisting with the development of professional standards,
financial sustainability, technological adaptability, and civic
engagement. AMI believes that democracy
thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.
ANIC funds news experiments and digital media startups in
order to help cover the costs of developing, testing and scaling a new digital
news venture or product.
Good luck!
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