The Knight Foundation announced the first winners of the Knight News Challenge today in Miami at the Editor & Publisher/Mediaweek Interactive Media Conference. The winners had a celebratory dinner yesterday evening, and the 15-minute presentation between conference sessions this morning was so inspiring.
The Knight News Challenge is meant to spur ideas to create bonds in a community through digital media. The parameters: It had to be digital, about news and information, and it has to be for delivery of that news and information to a defined piece of geography. “The openness of this was on purpose,” said Knight Foundation President Alberto Iberguen, and it resulted in more than 1,650 applications. Today’s awards totaled $12 million, some of which are multi-year grants.
The projects ranged widely from scholarships for computer programmers to attend (my alma mater) the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (apply here!) to database-driven community sites, new blog initiatives and more. More information on each winner’s project proposal is available at the News Challenge Web site.
As I heard each winner’s idea, I thought “Wow. That’s a really good idea. So is that one. And that one.” Seeing these creative digital media powerhouses up on stage with great ideas and funding behind them was a really uplifting experience. I hope reading about their projects will give you ideas and positive energy!
All of the winners will be blogging their projects on MediaShift and on the News Challenge site. And major congratulations to the winners from NAA!
Note: Later today at the conference, the Knight Foundation is hosting a session called "OK, So You've Won $1 Million. Now What?" The session will go into some of the ideas and inspiration behind the projects. I will take notes -- if you want the notes, e-mail me at beth.lawton@naa.org and I will happily send them. Or, go to the E&P/Florida International University live blog of the conference.