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New York Times wins top award for journalism innovation

Posted: 27/07/09 By: Chie Elliott

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The New York Times was crowned as a top innovator in journalism last week, as the title scooped the $10,000 Grand Prize at the Knight-Batten Awards.

The prize was given out in recognition of the New York Times' body of work in the past year, in particular six technological initiatives, such as Document Reader and Represent, that helped citizens engage in public issues, which led to changes in newsroom operations.

"This year's winner shows that even the biggest, most prestigious news organisations can create just the kinds of small, nimble teams they need to successfully innovate in the digital age," said Jan Schaffer, director of the awards' administrators J-Lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism, in a release.

The Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism are funded by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which promotes journalism excellence worldwide.

Five winners received $1,000 in the special distinction category, including non-profit winner, the Center for Public Integrity.

My Reporter.com, a website where citizens can ask questions about life in North Carolina for reporters to answer, won the Citizen Media Award.

UK-based pro-am news website, Demotix was the only contestant outside of North America to be listed in the awards 21 notable entries.

According to The Guardian, traffic to Demotix's site peaked during coverage of the recent Iranian elections.

Last year's winner of the innovation award was Wired.com for its interactive feature on Wikipedia, as reported by Journalism.co.uk.

Winners will be announced on September 17 at the Newseum in Washington DC.

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