A Call for Applications for MENA Media Outlets/Newsrooms.

During ARIJ’s 16^th Annual Forum, held between 1-3 December 2023, ARIJ & IMS announced a prize for independent newsrooms in the Middle East and North Africa to boost work around artificial intelligence and impact in emerging markets.

1. What is the significance of this prize?

This prize will help:

(1)  Support the implementation of an artificial intelligence solution in newsrooms operating in the Middle East and North Africa.

(2)  Explore the use of artificial intelligence to promote public interest journalism.

(3)  Innovate in organisational structures to identify new opportunities and capacity building methodologies.

(4)  Maximise learning for other media outlets/newsrooms through a test, learn and practice-based approach.

B.  What is the Prize?

The Artificial Intelligence Impact Prize aims to award a grant of USD 8,000 to one independent newsroom/ media entity in the MENA region.

The grant aims to pay expenses of ideation, implementation, deployment including  supporting the team and the cost of subscribing to an off-the-shelf artificial intelligence tool/s used for developing  this product.

Your product can focus on any one of the following journalistic areas:

1. Data/information gathering: The process of using artificial intelligence in gathering information and data for the purpose of producing news stories.
2. Content production: The process of using artificial intelligence in creating and developing various forms of content across different platforms.
3. Content distribution: The process of using artificial intelligence in disseminating content and presenting it to the target audience through various platforms.
4. Internal operations: The process of using artificial intelligence in facilitating various internal operations for business management, including organising different aspects of work, project management, budget analysis, and more. 

Grant will be disbursed as follows:

60% on contract signing (Feb 2024).

40% on delivery (June 2024).

C.  Eligibility

Eligible applications will be considered based on the following:

(1) An Independent Media Outlet/Newsroom with at least 3 years’ experience.

(2) Based in the Middle East and North Africa.

(3) Publishing in Arabic Language.

(4) Small to Medium Media Outlet/Newsroom (5) Have an editorial champion and a technical champion working together on this grant/product.

(6) Be able to work on the ideation and implementation of the product for three months (Feb 25 – May 25, 2024).

(7) Clear decision on off-the-shelf artificial intelligence tool/ to be used within your product.

(8) Be able to deploy the product in June 2024.

(9) Ready to participate in a webinar/panel and talk about the product & lessons learnt during 2024.

D.  What support can you expect?

ARIJ will be on hand to coach your team and help you with development of your idea, selection of more off-the-shelf tools (if needed), early implementation and deployment.

E.   How will the applications be judged?

ARIJ and IMS have selected a panel of experts in the fields of journalism and artificial intelligence. All proposals will be evaluated based on the following five criteria:

1.   Product Idea.

2.   Capacity and skills of the organisation team to implement.

3.   Action plan.

4.   Project feasibility within the timeline & budget.

5.   Impact to be achieved.

Shortlisted applications will be called for an online interview between February 15 – 21.  

TimeLine:

Call announcement: January 8^th

Deadline for submitting applications: January 29^th

Interviews of shortlisted: February 15^th – 21^st

Decision from review: February 24^th

Project period: February 25^th – June 25^th

Final deliverable: June 25^th

Media Outlets/Newsrooms with an interest in the prize should fill the form below (in English only).
For inquiries, please contact ARIJ Communication Manager, Samya Ayish, on email, samya@arij.net