Discourse Media project Moving Forward finalist in international data journalism awards

We’re thrilled to share that Moving Forward, our data journalism project about transportation in Metro Vancouver, is a finalist for the international data journalism awards awarded by Global Editors Network (GEN)!

The awards celebrate work in the field of data journalism in media worldwide. They reward examples of data-driven investigations, applications, visualizations and storytelling, which cover matters relevant to society and aim to have an impact at a societal level.

With nearly 500 submissions, Moving Forward was selected among 78 finalists. Being included in a pool of candidates including multinational newsrooms like the BBC, Al Jazeera and CNN feels like success enough to us, but we’re incredibly excited for the results on June 18.

We created Moving Forward because in the midst of a highly politicized transportation funding referendum in Metro Vancouver, journalists had little access to usable data and information about the transportation system. The result was conflict- and opinion-driven news coverage in the media, and a general public that was ill-informed about the issues they were voting on.

In response, we obtained, crunched and published datasets available nowhere else (including TransLink’s financial data over time) that shaped journalists’ reporting. Our work generated stories in the Vancouver Sun, News 1130, CTV, The Tyee, Spacing, the National Post, The Atlantic and others. We reached as many as 10,000 people a day through our website, and thousands more through our data interactives embedded in media outlet websites. We triggered thoughtful conversations on complex issues such as how to think about the full cost to ourselves and society of our transportation choices.

Thanks so much to all of you who supported us and our project. For more information about our nomination please visit the GEN website. [end]