By: E&P Staff The Institute for Interactive Journalism announced the four finalists for the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism Wednesday, calling them "bold, savvy projects."
A national panel of judges selected the four winners to receive one of a $10,000 grand prize, two $2,000 Special Distinction Awards, and a $2,000 Citizen Media Award.
The finalists are:
-- "Ushahidi: Crowdsourcing Crisis Information," a site that enabled bloggers and citizen journalists to contribute text and eyewitness accounts in the wake of Kenya's disputed presidential election.
-- Wired.com's "WikiScanner" Coverage, which revealed "PR spinmeisters' editing of Wikipedia entries not favorable to a company?s reputation," according to the Institute.
-- JDLand.com, a one-woman project documenting real estate development and the related concerns in Southeast Washington D.C.
-- PolitiFact.com, a site that tracks statements made by presidential candidates, using its "Truth-O-Meter" to ensure their accuracy.
"The Knight-Batten Awards continue to be the bellwether of journalism innovation," Gary Kebbel, the Knight Foundation's Journalism Program Director, said in a statement. "Mashups, crowdsourcing and non-profit journalism all were recognized early as trends that were changing daily journalism."
Honorable Mentions named by the advisory board include "Iowa?s Deadly Tornado," spotlighting The Des Moines Register's coverage of a tornado that devastated Parkersburg, Iowa. It included a house-by-house color-coded map embedded with first-person survivor accounts, surveillance and cell phone video, before-and-after photographs, and obituaries.
"This year we see how creative minds are using new technologies to connect people with hidden truths and hard-to-find information," said Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, which administers the awards program. "We are reminded of journalism's potential to reinvent itself as well as its fundamental promise to do good."
The final awards will be announced on Sept. 10 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.
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