JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative

1. Government-owned entities or entities affiliated/owned by a political party are not eligible to apply.

2. Eligible applicants must have a verifiable digital presence (such as a website primarily providing journalistic content) and have been in full operation - and active with recent content - for at least 12 months preceding the call for applications

3. Eligible applicants must be able to launch, implement, and measure the impact of the grant on their organisation within a maximum nine (9) month period.

4. This is not a reporting or storytelling grant and funding must not be used to report and produce stories primarily. Eligible ideas will use AI to focus and develop solutions for these thematic areas:

• Help fight misinformation and disinformation

• Experiment with new formats to engage new and existing audiences across mobile, video, audio.

• Identify ways to grow subscriptions and support diverse forms of revenue.

5. You are willing to share business insights and openly collaborate with other grantees, as well as track results throughout and submit a short report of your performance at the end of the programme.

Geographically, news organisations must be owned and operating in the following countries.

1. Asia Pacific: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Cook Islands, East Timor, Easter Island, Fiji, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

2. Europe: Austria, Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ukraine (excluding the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LNR))

3. Middle East and Africa: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jordan, KSA, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libya, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, UAE, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe

4. North America: Canada, United States, United States Overseas Territories

5. Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Navassa Island, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands

6. Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay

There will be three rounds of selection that take place:

❖ In the first round, applications will undergo an initial pre-screening to review basic application requirements (such as, but not limited to the: submission of completed application in English; application aligns with one of the three thematic areas; applicant is an independent organisation) Applicants may be asked to supply additional information during this phase. Applications that do not meet basic requirements will not be forwarded to the selection committee. 

❖ In the second round, applicants that have passed the pre-screening will be evaluated by the JournalismAI team based on a proposal’s thematic relevance, candidates’ relevance and experience, and organisations’ evidence of experimentation and innovation, and further shortlisted. You will not be contacted at this stage.

❖ In the third round, the selection committee, comprising of an independent advisor, international subject matter experts across the three thematic areas, and the JournalismAI management team, will evaluate shortlisted applications. The committee will check applicants’ proposed budget and project ideas based on various criteria including thematic relevance and feasibility. Upon final selection, the committee will make suggestions, where applicable, to streamline projects further and create a path to success.

❖ A due diligence process on the final shortlisted applications will be conducted.

❖ Selection Committee members will be required to declare any possible conflicts of interest, and will be asked to recuse themselves from any judgement where such conflicts may interfere with independence or the public perception of independence. These recusals will be recorded.