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TORONTO, Oct. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

  -- Sophi.io, a suite of artificial-intelligence tools developed

     by The Globe and Mail, wins global award for Technical

     Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism

Sophi.io (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2954374-1&h=2377876647&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsophi.io%2F&a=Sophi.io ),

The Globe and Mail's artificial intelligence-based automation and prediction

engine, won the Online Journalism Award for Technical Innovation in the Service

of Digital Journalism, handed out by the Online News Association (ONA).

Logo - 

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1315696/The_Globe_and_Mail_Inc__The_Globe_and_Mail_s_Sophi_io_Wins_Prest.jpg 

"For the business and structure of journalism, crucial priorities for the industry at

this moment, the winning entry is high-impact technical innovation. It's especially

useful for local newsrooms that are under-resourced," one judge said, according to the ONA.

Another judge described it as "a classic, chic way to work smarter, not harder," while

another said the winning entry "presents a thoughtful bold, bold implementation of

a tool that can significantly enhance the practice of online journalism."

Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail, said: "I was happy to

learn that the ONA chose Sophi as the winner for an award that focuses on

innovation. Innovation is a key part of our mission at The Globe and Mail, and

it's rewarding to see this recognized outside our walls. We will continue to

transform the industry with Sophi.io."

Sophi is an artificial-intelligence system that helps publishers identify their

most valuable content. It has powerful predictive capabilities – using natural

language processing, it helps publishers understand which content to paywall to

maximize subscription revenue, without sacrificing advertising revenue.

Sophi Automation (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2954374-1&h=1479142205&u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FG8gpmUPangM%3Futm_source%3DCNW%26utm_medium%3DPR%26utm_campaign%3DSophi-OJA-PR&a=Sophi+Automation )

autonomously curates digital content to find and promote the most valuable

articles. It places 99% of the content on all of The Globe and Mail's digital

pages, including its homepage and section pages. Sophi has been so successful

that it is now being used for print laydown as well. Sophi is available to

publishers across the globe to help their content producers focus on creating

the best articles possible.

Greg Doufas, CTO of The Globe and Mail, said: "Sophi.io has been a tremendous

joint effort between our data scientists and developers, as well as our extraordinary

newsroom, who collaborated closely to shape and create something that has truly

revolutionised the industry. We're very proud to accept such a prestigious global award

– and we're looking for great partners who'd like to use Sophi as well."

In May, Sophi also won the 2020 North American Digital Media Award awarded by

The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in the category of Best

Digital News Start-up. This award honours news publishers that have delivered

unique and original digital media projects in the past year.

Sophi was also shortlisted for other awards earlier this year, including by the

International News Media Association for Best New Technology or Digital

Product, and by Digiday for Best Revenue Diversification Strategy as well as

for Best Digital Product Innovation.

About The Globe and Mail and Sophi.io

The Globe and Mail is Canada's foremost news media company, leading the

national conversation and effecting policy change through brave, independent

journalism since 1844. The Globe and Mail's award-winning coverage of

busi¬ness, politics and national affairs reaches 6 million readers every week

in print and online. The Globe believes the future of journalism lies in its

ability to bring readers the stories they both want and need to know. That's

why the company invested in innovative data science and hired data scientists

from leaders in the tech industry to develop Sophi.io – an artificial

intelligence system with predictive capabilities – and used it to automate

content curation and promotion.

CONTACT: Jamie Rubenovitch, Head of Marketing, Sophi, The Globe and Mail,

416-585-3355, jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com

Source - The Globe and Mail Inc.