A team of reviewers are in Miami for the next two days to help Knight Foundation evaluate finalists in the latest Knight Cities Challenge, which asks the question: How can we make cities more successful? The latest round closed in October 2015 with more than 4,500 entries.

Civic innovators from across the country submitted ideas for our 26 communities. In January, Knight named 158 finalists, with common themes focusing on the three key drivers of city success: retaining talented people, expanding economic opportunity and promoting civic engagement. Proposals represent a range of ideas—from pop-up parks to mobile festivals to the accessibility of government websites.

A big thank you to our reviewers:

·      Ben Bryant, Group Melvin Design

·      Bobby Martin, Original Champions of Design

·      Fred Dust, IDEO

·      Jason Roberts, Team Better Block

·      Jewel Gopwani, Detroit Free Press

·      Joanna Frank, Center for Active Design

·      Kate Catherall, 270 Strategies

·      Lisa Adkins, Blue Grass Community Foundation

·      Matt Lister, Gehl Architects

·      Maurice Cox, City of Detroit

·      Nate Echeverria, San Jose Downtown Association

·      Raphael Clemente, West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority

Knight plans to announce winners in April 2016. 

Rosemary D’Amour is the digital communications associate for Knight Foundation. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @rosedamo.