The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announces its third annual Knight News Challenge, a contest that will grant up to US$5 million for ideas that transform local community news with the help of digital tools like social media, Web 2.0 or multimedia content. A new "incubator" site, the News Challenge Garage, was created in order to offer online criticism and advice for applicants.

"We have committed $25 million over five years to the Knight News Challenge because we believe in media innovation through experimentation," says Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation's president and CEO. "Each winning project is an experiment with the potential to transform how we practice journalism in the digital age."

The incubator will offer counseling from 50 mentors who may be online journalists, video bloggers, social media experts and developers. Examples include Spot.us' David Cohn, Placeblogger's Lisa Willians and Contentious editor Amy Gahran.

Previous winners include ChiTownDailyNews.org, Everyblock.com and Spot.us.

The deadline for applications is Novemebr 1, 2008.

Source: Knight Foundation Press Release

See also:
US: Knight Foundation to invest in online community news projects
The Knight Foundation announces winners of the first Knight News Challenge
The Knight Foundation discusses its first News Challenge
Developer uses Knight News Challenge grant to encourage citizen publishers
Knight News Challenge: deadline Oct. 15
Knights News Challenge has 17 finalists to transform community news through digital innovation
US: Chi-Town Daily News praises citizen journalism collaboration