Miami — Fifty coaches are standing by online to help innovative thinkers apply for the Knight News Challenge, a $5 million-a-year contest to move journalism into the 21st Century. The coaches — made up of past jurors and winners — will give News Challenge hopefuls a better chance of winning up to $5 million in prizes annually. They also hope to attract a more diverse range of ideas.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has funded the contest with $25 million over five years. Its goal is to discover new ways of using digital technology to meet the information needs of geographic communities. Last year’s contest received 3,000 applications. It named 16 winners.
The new “Knight News Challenge “Garage” mentoring site can be accessed online at garage.newschallenge.org. “With this incubator site we are taking a page from technology companies,” says Gary Kebbel, Knight Foundation’s journalism program officer. “We hope that the Garage coaches will extend the contest’s reach beyond the journalism field. We want to attract more applicants from technical communities, such as the social media arena. Another goal is to improve the overall quality of applications.”
In addition to mentoring the Garage offers an online job board to help applicants recruit staff for their projects. The site also allows applicants to give feedback to one another. Says Knight Foundation’s online community manager Kristen Taylor: “It’s a place for teams to add members and collaborate; we hope to see ideas grow stronger and more ready for implementation.”
Applicants can sign up now at garage.newshallenge.org to begin working on their applications. The main Knight News Challenge site will start accepting applications at September 2, 2008 at www.newschallenge.org. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2008.
About the Knight News Challenge
The Knight News Challenge is an international contest that funds ideas that use digital media to deliver news and information to geographically defined communities. For more information and a list of past winners and their projects visit www.newschallenge.org.
About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change. To learn more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.