Launching the 2025 JournalismAI Innovation Challenge
The 2025 JournalismAI Innovation Challenge supported by the Google News Initiative will support AI and journalism innovation in up to 12 news publishers around the world
Polis, the journalism think-tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), through JournalismAI have today (11 November) announced the call for applications for the second iteration of the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative. The Innovation Challenge is a programme of funding for projects from a wide range of news publishers to foster AI literacy and implementation through targeted innovation and experimentation.
The 2024 Innovation Challenge awarded grants to 35 organisations from 22 countries. In 2025, the programme will support up to 12 small and medium-sized news organisations who will use AI technologies to enhance and improve audience intelligence and revenue growth.
Each news organisation can seek grant amounts of $50,000 or $100,000 in their application.
Applicants may work on an existing proof-of-concept or submit an entirely new idea that they would like to develop into a working prototype by the end of the programme. We welcome ideas that are early-stage or pre-launch and not yet live within the organisations.
The programme runs for nine months, beginning in February 2026. At the end of the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, grantees will have a working prototype or tool that they will showcase to the JournalismAI community at large. They will also share lessons learned from their journey as well as best practices of using AI in the newsroom.
Announcing the new programme during the JournalismAI Festival, Matt Cooke, Head of Ecosystem Investment Programs, Google News Partnerships said: “We hope this next Innovation Challenge, funded by the Google News Initiative, will build on the success of the 2024 Challenge and promote experimentation, understanding and best practices to the ecosystem.”
Commenting on the new programme, Director of Polis and the JournalismAI project, Professor Charlie Beckett said that the Innovation Challenge was proving AI’s value to journalism: “It’s not just about the technology. It shows how AI can directly support the work of human journalists doing vital work reporting on important issues around the world. The successful applicants have created valuable tools and systems that can be replicated by other news organisations”.
The application process opens today, and will close on 3 December 2025. Application outcomes will be announced at the end of January 2026.
For further information about the programme, eligibility requirements and to apply for the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative, see the JournalismAI webpage.
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact the JournalismAI team on to innovation@journalismai.info.