Apply to the 2016 Data Journalism Awards and help celebrate outstanding work in the field – Knight Foundation
Journalism

Apply to the 2016 Data Journalism Awards and help celebrate outstanding work in the field

Art by Janeke Staaks on Flickr.

Marianne Bouchart is Data Journalism Awards manager at the Global Editors Network, which Knight Foundation supports to promote innovation and excellence in journalism.

The deadline is fast approaching for data journalists and their teams to submit their projects to the oldest international competition of its kind, the Data Journalism Awards. Now in its fifth edition, the awards celebrate data-driven storytelling worldwide. Previous winners include The New York Times, The Guardian, La Nación, as well as smaller publications such as Ojo Público (Peru) and El Financiero (Costa Rica). The deadline is April 10, 2016..

Some compelling data journalism projects have been published in recent years, such as the Swiss Leaks investigation and The Migrants’ Files project. The Data Journalism Awards celebrates great stories such as these, while also helping news teams learn from the work.

“Great work can inspire and create more great work,” said Simon Rogers, director of the awards.  “Entering the awards is not just about winning a prize or being recognised for your achievements; it’s about helping the rest of the world do what you do and taking it onto the next level. It’s about making us all better.”

It is a great opportunity for data journalists to grasp the latest trends and technologies used in the field and have their work recognized both by the jury of experts and the entire data journalism community.

Data journalists, programmers, newsroom innovators and their teams have just two weeks left to submit their projects for this year’s Data Journalism Awards, which are organized by the Global Editors Network, with support from the Google News Lab and Knight Foundation.

The prizes for this year are worth 1,000€ each (that’s 12,000€ in total) and will be awarded at the Data Journalism Awards 2016 ceremony on June 16 at City Hall in Vienna, Austria, during the sixth annual GEN Summit.

Whether you are a large news organization or a small startup, if you have created a compelling data-driven project with innovation and flair, head to the GEN Community to submit your project for free.

Among the 12 categories this year, three are specifically meant for smaller newsrooms (teams of less than 25). Awards such as News Data App of the Year, Data Journalism Website of the Year and Portfolio of the Year are also part of the list.

Here is some advice from Paul Steiger of ProPublica, president of the Data Journalism Awards  jury and a Knight Foundation trustee, to all those who want to apply: “It’s very helpful if entrants tell us in an accompanying short letter what challenges they overcame in getting the data they needed and working with the data to get important, meaningful results. It’s also helpful if entrants report what is new, in data analysis, in conclusions, and in impact.”

Want to see who has submitted a project so far? Check out the Data Journalism Awards 2016 projects page. And when you’re ready, submit your data-driven project on the GEN Community.

Marianne Bouchart can be reached via [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Maid_Marianne.