J-Lab Announces Four Awards for New Media Women Entrepreneurs

Four diverse news ideas - including an augmented reality mobile application, a New Orleans cultural affairs reporting partnership, an investigative blogging initiative, and a resource site for parents dealing with drug-addicted children - each won a $12,000 award to launch their projects in the coming year. The award winners were selected from a whopping 576 proposals received in the third year of the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative. Applications increased 32 percent over last year's 435, signaling the degree of imagination and market opportunities surfacing among women media entrepreneurs, said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, which administers the program.