Five Nigerians, 29 Others Get Google’s 3rd GNI Five Nigerians, 29 Others Get Google’s 3rd GNI Innovation Challenge

Google has announced five Nigerians and 29 other recipients of the Third Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge drawn from Africa, Middle East, Israel and  Turkey.
Head of Innovation, Google News Initiative, Ludovich Blecher, said in a statement that the recipients were selected for their initiatives in  promoting diversity, equality and inclusion in the journalism industry.
Blecher said the 34 projects of the recipients from 17 countries were chosen to receive $3.2 million in funding.
Accordingly,   he noted that the GNI innovation challenge was  part of Google’s $300 million commitment to helping journalism thrive in the digital era.
Also, he revealed that he has seen news innovators step forward with many exciting initiatives, demonstrating new thinking.
“This year, we seek to broaden our criteria to include digital innovation initiatives that promote goals like reader engagement, new reader income, subscriptions, disinformation among other things.
“Following a thorough assessment, a round of interviews, and a final jury selection, 34 projects from 17 countries were chosen to receive $3.2 million in funding.
“The recipients met all the five criteria requirements, including impact on the news ecosystem, equity and inclusion, inspiration, innovation, diversity, and feasibility,” he said.
He hinted that some of the recipients include Kenya’s WANANCHI Reporting, Nigeria’s Dubawa, and South Africa’s Quote This Woman+.
The Tide’s source learnt that WANANCHI Reporting provided features that allowed both the unserved and underserved Kenyans from remote and excluded areas to tell their stories.
He said the features of the unserved and underserved highlighted diversity in a manner that avoided misrepresentation by allowing them to contribute to the news ecosystem,  through their technology-driven interactive platform.
Blecher said that Nigeria’s Dubawa is a digital platform that helped newsrooms source and license quality images from local African photographers and photojournalists.
It was further gathered that starting with Nigeria, ATLAS  looked  to host relevant news images and editorial images, curated from local African photographers and photojournalists which anyone could  instantly download.