New Media Women Entrepreneurs Winners Announced

Last week, J-Lab ( The Institute for Interactive Journalism) announced the three winners of The McCormick Foundation New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative. Each winner received a $10,000 start-up grant to launch a new media project. This initiative, a collaborative effort between J-Lab and the McCormick Foundation, seeks to spotlight the creative assets of women and help address issues of opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism.

Officials selected the winners from a pool of 435 applicants. The three winners of the 2009 McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs were:

ChickRx - Harvard MBA student Stacey Borden and partner Meghan Muntean will lead a team of women in launching an “edgy, approachable, engaging” online health resource uniquely targeted to women, ages 18 to 27. It will have content and Q&As, updated daily, from medical, family and nutrition experts. Borden is the former campus relations director of 85 Broads, a national professional women’s group

Women’s Community News Franchise - Former MytopiaCafe.com editor Michelle Ferrier will develop a complete infrastructure, to be franchised, for those who want to launch hyperlocal news sites. A demo site will launch later this year in West Volusia County, Fla., piloting services that will include a Web platform, software development, market analysis, some content, and legal and marketing assistance.

The Good Food Fight - Three media-savvy Seattle women will connect consumers interested in food with larger public policy issues that affect food choices, security, safety, health and sustainability. Partners Kristin Hyde, Jen Lamson and Amy Pennington will use their deep experience in policy, marketing, journalism and digital campaigns “to leverage the growing concern and interest in food with a call to arms."

-compiled by Jenn Bollenbacher, citizenship intern