WikiTribune has been awarded €385,000 by the Digital News Initiative fund

We’re a very happy bunch at WikiTribune HQ, because we’ve been awarded €385,000 (that’s about £340,566 or $439,460) by Google’s Digital News Initiative (DNI) fund.

Image: Google/DNI

The DNI innovation fund aims to “support and stimulate innovation in digital news journalism,” and has announced a total of just under €22m of grants in its third round. Other awarded projects include Publico’s Transparent Journalism tool and Deutsche Welle’s automated translation and transcription platform.

What is the DNI?

Launched in 2015, Google’s Digital News Initiative is headed up by Ludovic Blecher, who previously ran a similar Google-backed initiative for digital press in France. The DNI Innovation Fund has a wider geographical remit, covering for-profit and non-profit news corporations, startups and even individuals from 32 countries across the EU and the EFTA.

The Fund totals €150m, which is being given out in stages (called ‘rounds’), of which this is the third to date. There were three criteria we had to meet to win the funding:

Impact on the news ecosystem

Innovation/use of technology, and

Feasibility.

The Google funding joins the $150,000 in grants we’ve already been offered by Craig Newmark, the News Integrity Initiative and ESV, plus of course the lifeblood of WikiTribune: reader support.

As Jimmy puts it, “We’re thrilled to have been chosen for such a prestigious grant from Google. It’s another vote of confidence in the WikiTribune model and — more importantly — the future of digital journalism, which is something that affects us all.”

Meanwhile, we’re still plugging away building the site. Not long to go now — we’ll keep you informed.