DOHA: Aljazeera’s inaugural hackathon ‘Canvas’ ended yesterday with 19 teams presenting innovative solutions in the fields of media and technology.
Reem Al Mansouri, Chair, the judging panel, and board member of Aljazeera Media Network, announced the five winning projects at the event at Qatar National Convention Centre.
“The judges faced difficulty in choosing the winning projects because of the high level of innovation and excellence. The winners were decided by small margins, which is evidence of participants’ quality of work,” said Mansouri. The closing ceremony was attended by Aljazeera’s Acting Director-General Mostefa Souag.
“2015 will be the year of digital media for Aljazeera. The Aljazeera Innovation and Research initiative is a step in this direction, and one of its corporate objectives. Aljazeera is committed to sponsoring and supporting this global community of innovators. This isn’t just for Aljazeera’s benefit, it helps the world of media as whole,” said Souag.
Ninety participants, including designers, innovators and journalists, were chosen from 37 countries for hackathon from among 1,600 applied from around the world. After three days of work within teams to develop solutions and innovative projects for the challenges the organisers designed, judges chose five for top prizes.
The projects are Most Innovative – Perspectives (Discover different takes on news events), Greatest Potential for Use – Newclip.se (An integrated story development environment for reporters), Greatest Impact and Disruption – Tiny FM (for local experiences on air), Highest Technical and Design Quality – Reporta (your news, your way) and Best Embodiment of Values and Ethics – Acumen (uncover your news). Submissions can be viewed at http://canvas.challengepost.com/submissions, where the public can also vote for the People’s Choice Award which is open until January 15.The Peninsula
