The New Mexico News Port, a digital news lab at the UNM's Communications and Journalism Department, was named the grand prize winner in the Online News Association's “Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education.”
UNM was one of 24 schools out of 200 to be selected for this program, accordingto the News Port. The journalism lab will receive $10,000 in grand prize money from ONA.
“This is exactly the high level of work we were hoping for when launching the Challenge Fund,” said ONA President Jane McDonnell in the statement.
ONA launched the $1 million Challenge Fund in 2014. The goal is to stimulate digital news experimentation and collaboration — to “hack the curriculum” — in collegiate journalism programs as a response to rapid changes in journalism today, according to theNews Port.
Initially, the platform received a startup fund of $35,00 from ONA when it was created in 2014. It is being fundedin its second year thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation, according to the News Port.
It was founded by journalism professor-in-practice Michael Marcotte with its editor Kate Nash Cunningham, a former local reporter who also teaches journalism. They work with students from several UNM journalism classes -- and three student interns -- to produce and share regional news via the News Port website and in collaboration with media partners, according to the statement.
The News Port has been successful in its relatively young life, with content from 75 students leading to 11 awards of merit and four national honors, according to their website.
This year, the platform's stories are themed around the local startup business economy.
“For us it’s just great to get that recognition for what we started,” said Nash Cunninghamin the UNM statement. “And the fact that we were able to beat out some big name journalism schools is encouraging to us.”
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