Knight News Challenge
Overview
Winners include leading Internet entrepreneurs, emerging media innovators and legacy newsrooms. DocumentCloud, which helps journalists analyze, annotate and publish original source documents, is being used by more than 200 newsrooms nationwide. Ushahidi has helped map information in crises from Haiti to Japan. hNews, a project by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and the Media Standards Trust, allows readers to see the source of information in online articles. It is used by more than 200 newsrooms such as the Associated Press.
The News Challenge has four phases:
- Submissions
- Feedback
- Refinement
- Evaluation
How much money is available?
Awards can be made for any amount - $1,000 to $1,000,000. The typical award size is between $200,000 and $500,000, but it varies with each project and contest.
What parts of my budget will you fund?
They’ll pay for what it takes to design, develop and implement the project, as well as marketing and travel.
Who can enter the News Challenge?
Anyone, anywhere, of any age. This competition is open to nonprofits, for-profits or individuals anywhere in the world. Awards to minors will be made to an intermediary designated by Knight Foundation. Organizations based outside the US will require a fiscal sponsor; we’ll work this out with you later in the process if you move forward.
What happens during the feedback phase?
During the feedback phase, their community—including a team of expert readers as well as other applicants—might comment, ask questions and provide feedback on entries.
What questions are on the application?
They ask a few questions to get a sense of your project, how you're approaching it, and what you've done so far. At this first stage, you don't need to provide a budget or a request for a specific amount of funding. They'll ask budget questions in the next stage for those entries selected as semifinalists.