ANNOUNCEMENT: 5th Annual Knight News Challenge Open for Entries

Hard to believe, I know, but it's been two years since we last wrote about the Knight News Challenge. Now in its fifth year, the Knight Foundation-funded media contest "seeks innovative techniques and technologies that advance the foundation's goal of informing and engaging communities." In the first four years of the challenge, a total of $23 million was awarded to 56 media innovators chosen from more than 10,000 entries. (Click here to learn more about past winners and their projects.)

This year, for the first time, the competition is featuring four experimental categories: Mobile (innovative ideas for news and information on all types of mobile communications devices); Authenticity (projects that help people better understand the reliability of news and information sources); Sustainability (new economic models supporting news and information that enhances citizen engagement); and Community (groundbreaking technologies that support news and information specifically within defined geographic areas).

(In the first three categories, the foundation prefers entries with a community focus; a place-based focus is an "absolute" requirement for the Community category. All software produced by contest-winners must be open-source.)

The contest opens for entries October 25 (today) and closes December 1. Individuals, nonprofits, businesses, schools, and government are all eligible to enter.

Entries submitted to the contest will be reviewed by experts in news, technology, and community. Final recommendations will be made by Knight staff, with the winners to be chosen by the Knight board and announced next June at an event at MIT.

The foundation will conduct an online chat tomorrow, October 26, at noon EST, to answer questions about this year's contest. To sign up for an event reminder about the chat, visit the News Challenge Web site.

-- Mitch Nauffts