New Delhi, Jul 6 (IANS): Google has announced the third Asia Pacific Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge, as part of its ongoing commitment to support the news industry around the world, including India.

Previous rounds of the Innovation Challenge supported more than 30 publishers across the Asia Pacific to develop sustainable business models by diversifying revenue streams and increasing audience engagement, the company said in a statement.

"Applications are open to news organisations of all sizes for projects that focus on innovation in the news industry," said Nic Hopkins, who is news ecosystem and programmes lead for Google Asia Pacific.

The Asia Pacific GNI Innovation Challenge is open to news organisations of all sizes that aim to produce original journalism and whose projects focus on innovation to create a more sustainable and diverse news sector.

The company said that the projects will be evaluated against several criteria, including impact on the news community, innovation, feasibility and a willingness to share knowledge.

"Applications are open until August 23 and can be submitted via our website in English, Bengali, Chinese (traditional), Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or Thai," said Hopkins.

Since 2018, the GNI Innovation Challenges has funded over 200 projects in 47 countries globally.