Shortlist announced for inaugural Canadian Journalism Foundation Innovation Award

TORONTO, April 20, 2015 /CNW/ - The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) is pleased to announce the shortlist for its inaugural CJF Innovation Award.

At a time when news organizations are facing unprecedented challenges and demands for change, this award recognizes innovations that have a demonstrated impact in advancing the quality of journalism done by an individual news organization.

"The CJF Innovation Award was designed to acknowledge and reward media entities that are pushing the boundaries of solid journalism in a digital age," says Mathew Ingram, senior writer with Fortune and chair of the jury. "The judges wanted to see bold ideas from all levels, whether it was individuals launching something completely new or existing players reinventing some aspect of journalism.

"Our shortlist is not intended to send a message that all innovation must occur in these specific ways, or that any of the entrants have all the answers to digital success. It is merely intended to recognize ideas that others might learn from as they embark on their own attempts at innovation. We had some great submissions this year, and congratulations to all the entrants."

The three finalists are:

CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/mobile/services/
Emerging from CBC News' overall strategy to increase local touch points with Canadians, the CBC News app for iOS8 was conceived as a single app serving many distinct local audiences. The app provides a foundation of user customization and localization that can be built upon with new features such as geo-located push alerts and weather reports.

Emergent  
http://www.emergent.info/
Founded by Craig Silverman, who also is the founder and editor of Regret the Error, this new organization tackles the challenge of assessing the huge social media information volume by checking the veracity of emerging stories, rumours and viral claims.

La Presse
http://plus.lapresse.ca/
To address changing media consumption habits, attract younger audiences and boost declining advertising revenues, La Presse became the first newspaper in Canada to design a standalone free-subscription digital edition for the tablet (La Presse+), first for the iPad, followed by an Android version.

The first CJF Innovation Award winner will be announced at the annual CJF Awards—celebrating 25 years of journalistic excellence—to be held at The Fairmont Royal York on June 3 in Toronto. Follow #CJFawards on Twitter.

Jury members are:
Chair - Mathew Ingram, Senior Writer, Fortune
Alfred Hermida, Associate Professor, UBC Graduate School of Journalism
Melanie Coulson, Director of Communications and Content, United Way Ottawa
David Skok, Managing Editor of Digital for The Boston Globe and General Manager of BostonGlobe.com
Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor and Director, School of Journalism, University of King's College


About The Canadian Journalism Foundation
Established in 1990, The Canadian Journalism Foundation promotes excellence in journalism by celebrating outstanding journalistic achievement. Our signature events include an annual awards program featuring a must-attend industry gala where Canada's top newsmakers meet Canada's top news people. Through J-Talks, our popular speakers' series, we facilitate dialogue among journalists, business people, academics and students about the role of the media in Canadian society and the ongoing challenges for media in the digital era. The foundation also supports journalism websites J-Source.ca (English) and ProjetJ.ca (French) and fosters opportunities for journalism education, training and research.

SOURCE Canadian Journalism Foundation

Related Links

http://www.cjf-fjc.ca