Knight Foundation announces winners of 2010 News Challenge

By Robin J Phillips on Jun 16, 2010 in Basics, Social Media, Technology, Tools

Alberto Ibarguen, Knight Foundation CEO

Wednesday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced the winners of its annual Knight News Challenge, a contest that funds ideas that use digital technology to inform specific geographic communities.

Twelve entrants were awarded a grand total of $2.74 million, the largest share, $400k, going to Eric Rodenbeck and his data visualization project CityTracking.

Among the winning ideas are two easy-to-use tool sets for journalists and bloggers to illustrate raw data visually – one of the most promising new areas of digital journalism. One project (Tilemapping) was field-tested in Haiti, to map where aid was needed after the earthquake.

The full list of 12 winners Knight News Challenge 2010 winners for 2010.

Knight News Challenge Winners, In Brief from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

Full disclosure: One of the grant-winning teams is from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where the Reynolds Center is based. Retha Hill and Cody Shotwell were awarded $90,000 for a project called CitySeed, a mobile application that allows users to plant the “seed” of an idea and share it with others.

About the Author

I've been Web managing editor at the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism since 2009. Before that I was Online Community Manager for azcentral, the online site for The Arizona Republic. Before arriving in Arizona, I worked at Newsday where I was Deputy Business Editor. I was the small business editor at BusinessWeek Online. I teach journalists to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools to expand and manage their networks. You can reach me at Email: Robin.Phillips@BusinessJournalism.org OR RobinJPhillips.com OR @RobinJP