About The Knight News Challenge

The Knight News Challenge accelerates media innovation by funding the best breakthrough ideas in news and information. Winners receive a share of $5 million in funding - and support from Knight’s network of influential peers and advisors to help advance their ideas.Innovators from all industries and countries are invited to participate. Previously run once a year, the Challenge is running three times in 2012, to more closely mirror the pace of innovation. Each round has its own theme.

The News Challenge is part of Knight Foundation’s $100 million plus Media Innovation Initiative, which seeks new ways to meet community information needs in the digital age. Over its first five years, Knight Foundation reviewed more than 12,000 News Challenge applications and funded 76 projects for $27 million.

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.

What’s your breakthrough innovation? Learn more and apply today.