Google News Initiative JournalismAI Innovation Challenge 2025 for small and medium-sized news publishers ($800,000 funding grant)

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Application Deadline: December third, 2025

Applications at the moment are open for the 2025 Google News Initiative JournalismAI Innovation Challenge. The JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative, is a programme to fund initiatives from a variety of news publishers to foster AI literacy and implementation by means of focused innovation and experimentation.

This nine-month lengthy programme is designed by the JournalismAI team, an initiative of Polis, the journalism think-tank on the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and supported by the Google News Initiative.

The programme is focused at small and medium-sized news publishers who’re already exploring the chances of AI applied sciences.

The program will help as much as 12 news organisations who will use AI applied sciences to boost and enhance viewers intelligence and income development.

Here are a couple of examples that publishers may discover utilizing AI for viewers intelligence and income development:

• Using AI to make subscriptions, memberships and donations more practical and worthwhile by understanding and influencing reader behaviour in real-time, e.g dynamic paywall methods; churn prediction and prevention; personalised merchandise or suggestions.
• Publishers may discover new B2B income streams by means of packaging distinctive insights and content material, e.g. creating a brand new premium subscription-based knowledge perception service; or utilizing AI to mine and construction premium content material and viewers knowledge.

At the top of the programme, chosen organisations will share outcomes of their respective initiatives. They may even share greatest practices about utilizing AI applied sciences within the news business.

grants will likely be awarded as follows:

• 8 concepts will obtain US $50,000 every
• 4 concepts will obtain US $100,000 every

Requirements

1. Government-owned entities or entities affiliated/owned by a political celebration usually are not eligible to apply.
2. Eligible candidates will need to have a verifiable digital presence (equivalent to a web site primarily offering journalistic content material) and have been in full operation – and energetic with latest content material – for not less than 12 months previous the decision for functions
3. Eligible candidates should be small and medium-sized news publishers (10-200 personnel) that are already exploring the chances of AI applied sciences.
4. Eligible candidates should be capable to launch, implement, and measure the impression of the grant on their organisation inside a most 9 (9) month interval.
5. This is not a reporting or storytelling grant and funding should not be used to report and produce tales primarily. Eligible grants shouldn’t deal with the creation of instruments for newsgathering, verifying data, fact-checking, detecting misinformation or unique journalism. Eligible concepts will utilise AI for viewers intelligence and income development.
6. You are keen to share enterprise insights and brazenly collaborate with different grantees, in addition to observe outcomes all through and submit a report of your efficiency on the finish of the programme.
7. Please notice that solely publishers whose major focus is news publication will likely be thought-about.
8. Publishers who had been awarded grants as part of the primary JournalismAI Innovation Challenge usually are not eligible to apply to this problem.

Eligibile Countries

• Middle East and Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, Turkey, UAE.

Application Procedure:

The Programme is simply open to small and medium-sized publishers (10-200 personnel) which can be already exploring the chances of AI applied sciences.

Consideration will likely be given to initiatives delivered in native languages, with efforts focused to residents of all ages, and to initiatives inside each city and rural communities.

To assist us evaluation your application effectively, please submit it in English utilizing the offered on-line kind. A model of the application kind is accessible by means of this Google doc that can assist you fill the web kind. Please contact us when you have any issues about accessing the application or offering responses in English.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Google News Initiative JournalismAI Innovation Challenge