A platform that monitors the fragile Amazon region; a site that illuminates connections among the powerful; and an investigation into corrupt spending practices by Argentina’s Senate are among the outstanding projects of ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellows and their partners named finalists for 2013 Data Journalism Awards.

Five projects from ICFJ Knight Fellows and their partners were shortlisted for the awards, which are the only international prizes exclusively for the growing field of data-driven journalism. The awards recognize exemplary projects that use data to find and report the news and tell stories in innovative ways.

Argentina’s La Nación data journalism team, which ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Sandra Crucianelli helped build for the past year, was a finalist for two of its projects.

La Nación’s examination of the Argentine Senate’s expenses for the past decade was a finalist in the “investigative journalism by a large media organization” category. The investigation uncovered spending irregularities, including reimbursement of expenses for trips never actually taken. La Nación’s reporting prompted replies from Senate officials and a judicial investigation of Vice President Amado Boudou.

La Nación was also a finalist for La Nación Data, the section of its website which explores the craft and uses of data-driven reporting, in the “data journalism website or section, small media category.”

Poderopedia, a platform that reveals links among business and political leaders in Chile, was also a finalist in the small data journalism website category. ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Miguel Paz, who launched Poderopedia, is expanding the platform as part of his fellowship.

InfoAmazonia, an online platform which uses satellite feeds and other publicly available data to monitor the fragile, nine-country Amazon Basin region was also a finalist in the small data journalism website category. Knight International Journalism Fellow Gustavo Faleiros launched the site last year, in partnership with Internews and Brazil’s environmental news site O Eco. Faleiros is expanding the site as part of a new fellowship this year.

A new ICFJ partner, Costa Rica’s La Nación, is a finalist for its project on patterns of exclusion from higher education in Costa Rica. ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow Mariana Santos will help La Nación’s newsroom tell better visual stories with data as part of her fellowship, which began this month. The Global Editors’ Network (GEN) administers the awards. Winners will be announced at the GEN Summit in June. A total of 15,000 euros (about $19,000) will be awarded to eight winning projects. ICFJ congratulates its partners and fellows on their outstanding work in this important field.