Update: We lost.
Grant money in journalism is flowing freely in a tightened economy and a historic juncture in print media.
Seems like an opportunity.
So, my two partners and I, who founded Technically Philly, applied for the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, a $10,000 grant to support new ideas in news. See our submission here.
We thought bringing together two niches — the geography of Philadelphia and the industry of technology and innovation — and diversifying revenue streams — going beyond advertising — was a new enough model that it might catch the eye of a judge or two.
We walked into a meaningful business, social and startup community in a major metro region’s creative economies and began reporting, relying on our interests in social media, community reporting and professional and ethical journalism.
We recently introduced advertising — a small first step in monetization –and feel that a grant for $10,000 could afford the three of us an opportunity to work full time for perhaps as much two months or more. Considering how pleased we are with our traffic growth and the response from the community, we’re thrilled by even the chance at the opportunity to give full time to a project none of us have been able to offer even part time thus far.
Unfortunately and entirely unsurprisingly, there is some stiff competition from the nearly 100 submissions that were entered. Below I share some of the more interesting submissions I saw and my thoughts on our viability.
Continue reading Technically Philly vies for Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism
