Search and online advertising juggernaut Google announced a couple of months ago that it would be providing some $5 million in grants to non-profit organizations devoted to innovating journalism.
Around 40% of the total fund was recently allocated to the Knight Foundation in the United States.
It appears more than 50% of the fund has just been awarded to the International Press Institute, based in Vienna, which will be used to sponsor the IPI News Innovation Contest.
According to a Google blog post on the matter, Google wants to be part of the contest, which seeks to “find and fund breakthrough ideas that will have a lasting impact on the future of digital news in communities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa”.
Grants will be awarded to both non-profit and for-profit organisations working on digital journalism initiatives, including open-source and mobile technology projects created by or for journalists and distributed in the public interest.
The International Press Institute is inviting proposals from around the EMEA region for projects devoted to online innovation in journalism, new economic models for news and training in digital reporting, from today until June 1st.
All projects should fit into three categories: News Platform, Sustainability and Training.