Cross-posted from Drupal.org

The Knight News Challenge recently extended its online submission deadline to December 15th to attract a broader applicant pool, particularly targeting software developers and entrepreneurs. The 4th annual Knight News Challenge, www.newschallenge.org , sponsored by the Knight Foundation, awards up to $5 million a year for innovative uses of digital technology that will help to transform news and information sharing. The competition is currently accepting applications and previous winners have included several members of the Drupal community.

The Challenge seeks ideas that will change how community news and information gets distributed. The competition asks applicants to submit their ideas for use of digital, open source technology to distribute news and information in the public interest in a defined geographic community. Past winners include:

•Radio Engage (Radio Drupal), using Drupal, this winner created a turnkey web site for radio news organizations.

•Benjamin Melançon, Co-founder of Agaric Design Collective, and a Google Summer of Code student for Drupal won for the development of a "Related Items" module for Drupal.

•Lisa Williams, for Placeblogger which was developed using Drupal's built in aggregation ability.

•Tony Shawcross, for The Open Media Project. To develop and implement open-source tools designed to free the staff of public access stations and community technology centers from many repetitive tasks.

In addition, the Knight Drupal Initiative was created out of the Knight News Challenge, awarding over $485,000 to six new Drupal projects that will make it easier for people to join the digital conversation by lowering barriers to online publishing. Those winners included:

•Addison Berry (Documentation Team lead) will create concise, up-to-date instructions for Drupal software packages so that tech novices can use the tools.

•funnymonkey.com will create a free publishing system to make it easier for several geographic communities to share local news with each other.

•Dave Cohen will create a system that allows anyone, anywhere to easily create a Drupal online news site whose content can be published on Facebook in order to reach an extended social network.

•Instant Syndicating Standards will develop software that allows people to create and share a personalized stream of information within their social network, helping them to filter and recommend articles to others interested in the same issues.

•Rob Loach will add a micro-blogging function to Drupal that will allow users to transmit brief text updates on their Web sites.

•Development Seed will create a tool that will help residents better communicate and understand information about their community by allowing them to geo-tag – or add a geographical identification – to stories so they can be displayed on a map.

While Knight News Challenge winning ideas are diverse, they have a common element-they gather and disperse information in a particular geographic area or community. The Foundation requires all submissions to meet that requirement. The competition has no requirements on participants' age or location and invites teams to enter as well. Applicants are invited to apply either in the "open" category, in which the public will be able to review, rate and comment on their idea, or the "closed" category, in which only Knight staff and a panel of digital media experts will review their proposal.

As you can see, members of the Drupal community have a long history winning Knight News Challenge awards. This year there is an even better opportunity with the extended deadline of December 15th.

Want to put words and thoughts on paper for the masses? Printcasting, a Knight News Challenge winner, lets anybody put content into a magazine format in minutes, with space for local advertising. In this video, founder Dan Pacheco talks about his project.

Princasting Blog from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

Jessica Mayberry explains how Video Volunteers aims to create "video literacy” in the villages and towns of the developing world, enabling people to communicate globally and improve their local communities.

Video Volunteers Blog from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

In a post on his blog and on Planet Mozilla, Mark Surman asked the Mozilla community if they could help reinvent local news. We, at Knight Foundation, believe Mozillians share our values and are sure they have the vision and know-how that when applied to news and information can benefit local communities. We hope to receive their applications.

Cross-posted from Mark Surman's Blog

Recently, I noticed Knight Foundation and Sunlight Labs blogging together. The topic: rallying Sunlight developers to join the Knight’s efforts to reinvent local news for the internet era. And, in particular, to join the Knight News Challenge.

By collaborating with Sunlight, Knight is reaching out to developers and designers who are using internet thinking to change how government works. If these people are good at coming up with ways to internet-ize government, why not see if they can do the same for local news? Smart.

This got me to thinking: could Mozilla or Mozillians play a role in Knight’s efforts to create sustainable, inspiring local news that looks and feels like the internet? Certainly, the Knight Challenge criteria align well with Mozilla’s values:

The Knight News Challenge projects meet three criteria: 1) use digital, open-source technology to 2) distribute news and information in the public interest 3) to a local, geographic community.

Open source. Public benefit. Community. And, there a number of people who’ve participated in the past feel more ‘Mozilla’ than ‘local news’:

Past Knight News Challenge winners include leading innovators at the intersection of technology and information – folks like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and a 2008 Knight News Challenge winner, and Adrian Holovaty, co-creator of the Django programming framework and originator of one of the first Google Maps mashups, which evolved into his 2007 Knight News Challenge award.

While I’ve only just glanced at all the Knight and Sunlight stuff quickly, it does feel like there could be some useful connections here. Maybe simply by developers or others from the Mozilla community proposing ideas to Knight? Or maybe, at some point, through a more joint initiative through Drumbeat? I’m going to think on it a little and possibly post again. In the mean time, I’d welcome comments / brainstorms / proposals from any Mozilla people reading this post.

PS. The current Knight News Challenge deadline is December 15. If you have an idea, enter. It’s a really simple, short process. The web site is: www.newschallenge.org

Crossposted from Sunlight Labs.

The reason why we extended the Knight News Challenge deadline is because we want to invite and partner with organizations that share our mission, values and goals, and that have networks of software developers and entrepreneurs. Our first partner is the Sunlight Foundation and its Sunlight Labs.

You're part of a community doing amazing work on some hugely important issues of government transparency, especially at the state and national level. We're partnering with the Sunlight Foundation and Sunlight Labs in hopes of engaging you in a complementary challenge: bringing your great ideas to cities and other local communities.

The Knight News Challenge is an annual $5-million contest to fund the best ideas for reinventing local news. The contest deadline for 2010 was originally set for October 15, but we extended it to December 15 in large part because we saw an opportunity to partner with more folks like you all. The Knight News Challenge projects meet three criteria: 1) use digital, open-source technology to 2) distribute news and information in the public interest to 3) to a local, geographic community.

In past years, we've already funded projects that are terrific complements to the work done by Sunlight Foundation and Sunlight Labs. For example, take a look at one of our 2009 winners, DocumentCloud (which recently announced a partnership with the Sunlight Foundation). DocumentCloud will allow some of the most robust investigative journalism outfits in the country - organizations like the New York Times, ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the ACLU, and Talking Points Memo - to share, publicize, collaborate on, and crowdsource the documents they're uncovering every day in Freedom of Information Act battles. Or check out the Transparency Initiative we funded in 2008, creating a microformat - hNews - to mark up news stories with metadata about sourcing, geo-location, and more.

Becoming a Knight News Challenge grantee would put you in the company of some of the leading innovators at the intersection of technology and information - folks like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and a 2008 Knight News Challenge winner, and Adrian Holovaty, co-creator of the Django programming framework and originator of one of the first Google Maps mashups, which evolved into his 2007 Knight News Challenge award.

We've got the money and the mission. You've got the ideas we'd like to fund. If you're interested, check out our website (the FAQ is a great place to start), and feel free to send any questions to newschallenge@knightfoundation.org.

Jose Zamora is a Journalism Program Associate at Knight Foundation

1. Do your research

2. Develop an accurate budget

3. Be reasonable

You have a great idea, and you want to apply to the Knight News Challenge, but you are not sure about how much money to ask for. The answer lies in how much the project will cost.

To decide how much funding to ask for you have to create a budget. And that budget should be as accurate as possible. You should take into account things like salaries, contractors, rent, utilities, travel, legal fees, marketing, etc. Include everything you are planning to do and how you will do it. Then do research and get real estimates of what each activity, salary and fee will cost.

It might also be helpful to look for other projects in the application pool and see how much they are asking for. You also could examine the budgets of organizations or individuals that are doing projects similar to the one you want to develop. That number should also help you determine how much you should ask for.

The Knight News Challenge contest does not request a line-item budget unless you are a finalist. However you need to know your general budget when you apply to be able to state the amount you are requesting. Creating a budget will be a helpful exercise. It will allow you to know how much to ask for and it will also allow you to have a budget ready in case you move forward in the contest to the phase where we do ask for a budget.

The most important thing to remember when asking for an amount for your project is to ask for an amount that is reasonable for what you are proposing to do.

Good luck!

Jose Zamora is a Journalism Program Associate at Knight Foundation

For a century, daily newspapers were the civic glue holding many American communities together. But today new technologies are rapidly changing the way we connect with each other.

First it was the rise of television. Now, it’s the internet. Most of us use cell phones and other gadgets to find out what we want to know. Though technology connects us with the world, it can leave us disconnected from those right in our own backyards.

Knight Foundation wanted to help people use the new digital tools to find out what they need to know to run their lives and their communities.

Our founders, John S. and James L. Knight, served their communities with their newspapers. News and information that helped citizens in communities understand their common interests and opportunities. Knight Foundation wanted to know what, in the 21st century, will do what the Knight brothers used to do with ink on paper alone.

To reach this goal, Knight Foundation created the Knight News Challenge: A five-year, $25 million contest designed to spur media innovation.

We didn’t want to limit the ideas by setting up too many rules, and that is how the contest was born, a worldwide open contest with very few questions and requirements. Worldwide because you never know where innovation will come from.

The deadline for year four of the contest is Oct. 15, 2009. Don’t miss the opportunity to win part of the $5 million that will be awarded on this round.

In the video below, David Cohn, the founder of Spot.US, explains how his project works and talks about the Knight News Challenge Conference.

Jose Zamora is a Journalism Program Associate for Knight Foundation

A great application meets the main three criteria of: 1) using digital open-source technology; 2) to distribute news and information, 3) to a local community, but goes beyond that by having the following elements:

1. It is clearly written. (A child should be able to understand it.)

2. It is concise. (It is what we know of as a great and brief elevator pitch.)

3. It has research and discovery in it (meaning that you tried to find out about everything else that is out there that is similar to what you are proposing to do).

The third factor is a key element of your application. Before submitting your project you should do the necessary research to demonstrate that you have a unique idea and that you are not reinventing the wheel.

You will have a great advantage in the contest if you are able to show that:

• You know the landscape of the field and the project you are proposing to do.

• You are able to explain why your idea/project is different or better than everything else that is already exists.

The simplest way to start doing your research is by doing Google searches with key words of what you are proposing to do. You can also crowd-source your research using twitter and asking everyone if they have ever heard or seen anything like what you are planning to do. You can also ask your social networks for help and see what media, social media and mobile organizations are already doing. These are only a few things you can do to make sure you are presenting something that is unique or something that is using what already exists, but in a very useful and different way.

It is a good idea to start working on the Knight News Challenge  questions  before submitting the online form. You will find the questions on the online application form below.

1. Project title: 100 char.
2. Describe your project: 1,800 char.
3. How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities? 750 char.
4. How is your idea innovative? (new or different from what already exists): 750 char.
5. What experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project? 1,600 char.

Good luck!

Jose Zamora is a Journalism Program Associate at Knight Foundation

Getting feedback on your application is important; it will definitely improve your idea and increase the chances of your project moving forward in the contest.

The first thing you should do is draft your submission. Be as clear and concise as possible. Once you have the draft ready read it a few more times and edit it. Try to get rid of jargon and technical terms. Make it simple and to the point.

Once you feel ready for submission, let a few friends read your application. If they think everything is clear and do not have any questions you are ready to submit and receive public feedback. (Public feedback only applies if you submit under the open category)

Posting your application for public comment early will allow you to benefit from the wisdom of the crowd. You will be able to receive feedback and ideas that you can incorporate into your application. Or you will receive questions that will allow you to see in what parts of your submission you need more clarity.

Once your application is public you can also poke your social networks and ask everyone in them to give you feedback. These steps should improve your application and your chance of moving to the full proposal phase of the contest.

The Knight News Challenge applications will be accepted starting September 1, 2009. Start preparing your application today. To learn more about the contest, sign up for updates and learn about past winning projects please visit: www.newschallenge.org.