Project:Report finalists will shape future of journalism, says YouTube's Olivia Ma

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YouTube's first journalism competition was meant to break down traditional routes to entering the industry, the site's head of news told Journalism.co.uk in October last year .

And it has done just that, according to news manager of YouTube News&Politics, Olivia Ma, who says that videos uploaded to the Project:Report channel demonstrate that the low barriers to entry encouraged participants to enter, without lowering the quality of the submissions.

Overall winner Art Perez made his final film on the residents of Camphill , a community for disabled adults in California.

Perez, who finished his first, self-funded documentary film shortly before the contest began, sees himself as a filmmaker first and a citizen journalist second, he tells Journalism.co.uk, but will now be sent on a journalism assignment for the Pulitzer Center with $10,000 of funding.

"Initially just the name recognition [of the Pulitzer Center] attracted me to enter, but after the second and third round I realized that just the chance to be able to tell stories that would be seen by hundreds of thousands of people is a treat in itself, because then you have a chance to affect the characters and causes that you film in a positive way," says Perez.

For Olivia Ma, the contest was a natural extension of the growing trend of citizen journalism on the site.

"Engaged citizens around the world were already using YouTube as a place to share stories about people, places, and issues in their communities," she tells Journalism.co.uk.

"Many of these stories were powerfully told by talented aspiring journalists and we thought Project:Report would be the perfect way to acknowledge and cultivate this global community of citizen reporters."

Despite low technological barriers to entry, asking for short-form videos on serious issues meant the criteria for content were demanding, she adds.

The quality of the videos submitted are a sign of hope at an admittedly bleak time for the journalism industry, says Ma – a view shared by Perez, who dreams of working for Rolling Stone and is seeking an 'entertaining but also unique' story for his Pulitzer project.

"What this contest showed, however, is that with the right tools, access to technology, and distribution platforms like YouTube, everyday citizens from around the world can contribute meaningfully to the newsgathering process," says Ma.

"As news bureaux shrink and media organizations are forced to lay off depressingly large percentages of their reporting fleet, engaged individuals can participate in reporting important stories that might otherwise be left aside.

"The journalists who entered Project:Report unquestionably have a significant role in the future of journalism and will help dictate how the news is reported going forward."

Not least because the platform on which these filmmakers and aspiring journalists shared their work shows the new routes available to entering the industry. Semi-finalist Torrey Meeks has already been signed up by the Washington Times as a multimedia correspondent following his success in the YouTube contest.

"By recognising Project:Report winners, institutions like the Pulitzer Center and media companies like the Washington Times are acknowledging the varied paths by which good journalism can come to fruition," says Ma.

"We don't believe there is a distinct barrier in place between traditional media outlets and grassroots, citizen-driven reporting - in fact, we're big proponents of a dynamic media ecosystem in which citizen reporters and professional journalists not only co-exist, but collaborate.

"The mainstream media should be leveraging the power of citizens to more effectively report on the happenings of the day."