The Digital News Innovation Challenge is officially underway
Meet the companies revolutionizing digital journalism
New forms of technology are disrupting the journalism industry.
The Digital News Innovation Challenge (DNIC), a partnership between the DMZ, Ryerson School of Journalism (RSJ) and Facebook Journalism Project, will give Canada’s top media startups with training, funding and expert assistance over five months to drive new innovation in the sector.
Entrepreneurs are granted exclusive access to workspace resources at the Sandbox by DMZ, networking opportunities, and tailor-made workshops as part of the program. Entrepreneurs also gain up to $100,000 in seed capital and a $50,000 Facebook marketing budget should they reach the unique milestones created for each company.
Along the way participants will get help from program experts, each of whom bring a different area of expertise to the incubator project:
- Asmaa Malik, RSJ Assistant Professor specializing in digital journalism.
- Uzair Chutani, digital marketing guru and the CEO of Growth Driver Inc.
- Corrine Sandler, serial entrepreneur and founder of Fresh Intelligence Research
But the real stars of the show are the DNIC entrepreneurs . Only just starting their journey, these inventive founders are on an exciting journey on how to grow and scale their company over the next few months.
Before they become major players in the digital news landscape, let’s meet the five startups taking part in the program.
The Sprawl
The Sprawl is a “pop-up journalism news organization,” that takes a new approach to daily digital news reporting by focusing on in-depth reporting largely funded by a crowd-source revenue model.
The Ground
The Ground links users to local news stories, prompting them to report on events and verify facts in order to provide more well-rounded news coverage.
Trebble FM
The rise of voice-activated smart speakers (e.g. Google Home, Amazon Echo) has created a new medium for journalistic storytelling. Trebble FM helps media organizations and journalists access this new market by providing an online platform to distribute original audio newscasts.
The Gist
Women who watch sports (and those who don’t) finally have their unique source for sports news. The Gist specifically targets the market of sports-lovers who are women, building a digital publication that tailors its content to female readers.
Readefined
Tired of the droves of incomprehensible user data Google Analytics and other platforms provide? Readefined may be the answer. Readefined is an intuitive analytics tool that takes a more comprehensive approach to user engagement.
Be sure to check back here for updates and the latest news about the Digital News Innovation Challenge.
Article written by Michael D’Alimonte
