Knight Foundation News Challenge
Contact information:
Wachovia Financial Center Building
Suite 3300
200 South Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33131-2349
Phone: 305-908-2600
Fax: 305-908-2698
Website: http://knightfoundation.org/funding-initiatives/knight-news-challenge/
Type of foundation: Independent
Types of grants: Project/implementation/marketing
Description: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is the nation’s leading journalism funder. It makes grants in the areas of Media Innovation, Journalistic Excellence (specifically training and journalism education) and Freedom of Expression. Since 2007, Knight has invested more than $100 million in new technologies and techniques, including in more than 200 community news and information experiments. Through its investment, the Foundation seeks to improve public media, discover new platforms for investigative reporting, increase digital and media literacy, promote universal broadband access and support a free and open Web. Knight is deeply committed to the belief that a well-informed citizenry is essential to a functioning democracy – and that high-quality information outlets are as important to communities as good bridges and hospitals.
The Knight News Challenge is a media innovation contest. “Through the News Challenge, Knight Foundation fosters innovators that push the intersection of journalism and technology,” said Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation.
In 2012, the parameters of the Knight News Challenge will change. Instead of an annual competition, the Foundation will open three contests over the course of the year, focusing on different topics. The first challenge focused on networks. The networks challenge round sought projects that use the best of existing software and platforms – those already integrated into people’s lives – to find new ways to convey news and information. The second round of the Challenge will focus on data. It will fund new ways of collecting, understanding, visualizing and helping the public use the large amounts of information generated each day. Knight wants to find innovators who are discovering ways for applying data towards informing citizens and communities. As Knight Media Innovation Program Director John Bracken asks: “What are the implications — ethically, economically, socially — of having access to so much information? How can the flood of data best be channeled to make us better citizens? What stories can we tell? How will we act differently based on what we learn? What tools and products can we create out of this raw material? How do we consume data responsibly and healthily?”
Information on the third round will be released later in 2012.
Previous News Challenge winners include:
- $420,000 to Media and Place Productions for Zeega, To help tell rich multimedia stories, Zeega will improve its open-source HTML5 platform for creating collaborative and interactive documentaries. With this grant, Zeega will expand their experimental prototype to work on Web, tablet and mobile devices and pilot a series of collaborative and interactive documentary projects with news organizations, journalists and communities across the globe (2011).
- $360,000 to Adaptive Path for iWitness. To bridge the gap between traditional and citizen media, iWitness will create a web-based tool that aggregates user-generated content from social media during big news events. Whether a parade or protest, election or earthquake, iWitness will display photos, videos and messages in an easy-to-browse interface. Created by a premier web design firm, iWitness will make it easier to cross-reference first-person accounts with journalistic reporting, opening up new avenues for storytelling, fact-checking and connecting people to events in their communities (2011).
- $250,000 to the Kiwanja Foundation to create a new platform that allows journalists to more effectively use text messaging to inform and engage rural communities. The Frontline SMS platform already enables users in underserved areas to organize interactions with large numbers of people via text messages, a laptop and a mobile phone – without the need for the Internet. This grant will enable FrontlineSMS to expand its software platform and work with community radio stations and other rural journalists (2011).
- $250,000 to John Davidow, Executive Editor of New Media, WBUR, to create Order in the Court 2.0, a laboratory in a Boston courtroom to help establish best practices for digital coverage that can be replicated and adopted throughout the nation (2010).
- $150,000 to the Chicago Tribune for PANDA. To help news organizations better use public information, the PANDA Project, in partnership with Investigative Reporters & Editors, the Chicago Tribune and The Spokane Spokesman-Review, will build a set of open-source, web-based tools that make it easier for journalists to use and analyze data (2011).
- $75,000 to Jake Shapiro, PRX for PRX StoryMarket, enabling anyone to pitch and help pay for production of a story for a local public radio station (2010).
- $74,000 to Eric Gunderson, DevelopmentSeed, for Tilemapping to help local media create hyper-local, data-filled maps for their websites and blogs (2010).
The full list of 2011 winners is available here. The winners of the 2012 networks Challenge will be announced in June.
Fit for Public Media: The News Challenge is a unique opportunity to fund innovative projects that use digital technologies in new ways to inform communities. The News Challenge supports a broad range of projects, from data accessibility and use to citizen journalism. This is an excellent opportunity for public media interested in using digital media in genuinely innovative ways.
Eligibility: Anyone can apply to the News Challenge (individuals, organizations, for-profit, nonprofit). There are no geographical restrictions. The News Challenge will no longer require projects to use open source technology. Collaborations are encouraged, but not required.
Deadline: The second application window in 2012 opens on May 31 and closes on June 20, 2012. There will be a third contest later in the year.
How to apply: Helpful application information is provided here. Applicants must apply on the Knight News Challenge Tumblr. There are seven questions. Brevity matters. Media, videos, links to prototypes, etc. can also be included with the post, but are not required. The application window for the second round is open May 31 - June 20 (midnight - EST). Knight prefers that all applications are publicly shared, but they will accept closed applications (information available here). More information about the second round guidelines is available here. Individuals and organizations may submit more than one application for different project ideas. It’s fine to reapply if you were turned down in a previous round, as long as the idea fits the theme of the current round. After reading the guidelines, additional questions can be directed to the Foundation at #newschallenge, @knightfdn or newschallenge@knightfoundation.org.
Giving range: Most News Challenge awards have been in the $75,000 - $400,000 range. The Foundation awards approximately $5 million per year (total) to News Challenge winners.
