MIAMI — The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will announce the first-year winners of the Knight News Challenge on May 23 at the Interactive Media Conference & Tradeshow in Miami, hosted by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek.

The Knight News Challenge – a contest open to anyone, anywhere – offers $25 million over five years in awards for news experiments that use digital media to build communities in specific geographic areas. The first year’s winners range from individuals to corporations and were chosen from among 1,650 applicants after recommendations by a panel of experts in digital media. They will receive a total of $12 million, including several multi-year awards. Applications for the 2007 round can be submitted at www.newschallenge.org starting July 1.

A press release about the winners will be released on May 23, the day of the announcement.

Knight Foundation is a sponsor of the Interactive Media Conference & Tradeshow 2007, an annual forum for new media issues attended by media representatives from the business and editorial side. More information is available at www.interactivemediaconference.com.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfdn.org.