A new website backed by regional publisher has been awarded £400,000 grant funding over the next four years to launch a new Welsh language news service.

Newsquest recently advertised for two Welsh language speaking journalists for an as-yet unnamed project – one to cover general news and the other to cover the Senedd in Cardiff.

It is now understood that they will be working for Corgi.Cymru, an online-only platform to be run by Huw Marshall, left, who was also involved in setting up Newsquest’s Wales-wide news website The National.

Corgi.Cymru was one of two grant recipients from the Books Council of Wales to fund Welsh language digital news services from April, along with established operator Golwg360, with each site receiving £100,000 a year until 2026.

Said Huw: “We’re grateful to the Books Council of Wales who have embraced our vision for a new Welsh-language digital news service that will target a new generation of Welsh speakers in post-industrial Welsh communities, as well as those living in more traditional Welsh-language communities.

“The investment from the Books Council of Wales will, hopefully, allow us to develop a commercially viable service in the Welsh language and add plurality to the Welsh media landscape.”

The grants were awarded following an open tender process, which invited applications for the delivery of a dedicated Welsh-language digital news service.

The scheme is administered by the Books Council of Wales on behalf of Welsh Government, with an independent panel awarding the funding.

Owain Schiavone, interim chief executive of Golwg Cyf, said:  “Golwg is glad to have the opportunity to continue to offer a digital Welsh-language news service through golwg360.cymru.

“We have exciting plans for how to move the service in a slightly different direction, as we respond to what we have learnt about the audience since launching golwg360 in 2009, as well as the ways in which the world of news has evolved since then.”

Helgard Krause, chief executive of the Books Council, said: “The purpose of the grant is to enable Welsh-language news provision that makes a significant contribution to the quality and range of journalism in Wales, with the ultimate aim of increasing the number of people, especially young people, who engage with news through the medium of Welsh.

“Both companies presented exciting and distinct proposals to the independent grants panel about how they would deliver high-quality news services that will appeal to readers across Wales, with stories and content that are relevant, accessible and have a strong Welsh voice.

“We’re very pleased that we have been able to award grant funding to both companies and provide more choice than ever for people to access their daily news in Welsh through a variety of digital platforms.”

However the announcement of the funding was criticised by LlanelliOnline editor Alan Evans whose website already provides a Welsh language news service.

He told HTFP: “This latest hand out of £200,000 which will be replicated over the next four years to fund a digital Welsh language news service has left our company baffled.

“We have been providing the exact same thing for the last four years. Where was the tender advertised? Why didn’t any of the many Welsh language independent news outlets get considered?”

Corgi Cymru will launch on 25 April.   Newsquest has declined to comment further on the initiative.