As 2012 ends, we want to give you an update on the Knight News Challenge.

For 2013, we’re planning two News Challenges. The first will focus on tools for open government and will open in February. The second will open in the fall, on a topic we’ll announce early next year. We ran three contests this year, on Networks, Data and Mobile. We’ll be unveiling the third set of winners Jan. 17 at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University. Here are updates on what some recent News Challenge winners have been up to over the last month:

• Anu Sridharan, founder NextDrop, was named this week to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List. (Here’s Anu at TEDxGateway in Mumbai.)
• TEDxWomen highlighted the work of Recovers.org.
• Watchup, the startup iPad video news app, announced it had raised additional $500,000 in funding. Its founder Adriano Farano gave an Ignite Talk on lasagna design at NewsFoo.
• Waldo Jaquith, founder of the State Decoded, ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to “Liberate Virginia’s Legislative Video.”
• Poderopedia launched the beta version of its power relationship map, based on Chile, last week.                         

In the first half of next year, we’ll also be releasing an assessment of the 2010 Knight News Challenge winners (following reviews of 09 and 07-08 winners.) We’ll have more details on the 2013 challenges early next year. To stay in the loop, follow @knightfdn.

By Knight Foundation’s John Bracken, director journalism/media innovation and Chris Sopher, journalism program associate