Knight News Challenge 2012

Our coverage of the three rounds of the 2012 Knight News Challenge, in which journalism innovators seek funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

KNC 2.0: The Knight News Challenge revamps to quicken the pace of journalism innovation

The Knight Foundation is opening up its contest by changing its rules and shortening the gestation period for ideas. Justin Ellis

Seth C. LewisFebruary 10, 2012

Still shaping the way people think about news innovation? A few reflections on the new KNC 2.0

The Knight News Challenge may be shifting gears, but it’s still an important window into where news innovation is taking us.

New Knight News Challenge puts emphasis on pragmatists and builders

The first round of the new challenge is open and the (short) applications call for creativity and conciseness. Justin Ellis

Android sensory data, streaming breaking news, and better real-time filters: The winners of the 2012 Knight News Challenge

Six winners share more than $1.3 million in the first post-reboot round of the Knight Foundation’s news-innovation contest. Joshua Benton

Behavio mockup of photo with smart metadata

Andrew PhelpsJune 18, 2012

The Knight News Challenge winners are building an open-source framework to simplify mobile data collection and processing.

Justin EllisJune 19, 2012

Signalnoi.se mines social media for real-time analytics for news

The Knight News Challenge winner uses Twitter and Facebook to help newsrooms track their own — and competitors’ — stories.

Watchup wants to be a “Hulu for news junkies” on your iPad

Knight News Challenge winner Watchup aggregates videos from YouTube for a new iPad app that lets users customize their own mini-newscasts. Adrienne LaFrance

Knight Foundation diversifies its journalism investments again with its new Prototype Fund

Lessons from previous grants and investments have changed Knight’s approach to funding innovation. Justin Ellis

Adrienne LaFranceJune 19, 2012

The Tor Project helps journalists and whistleblowers go online without leaving a trace

Tor builds privacy-protecting software, networks, and portable operating systems with journalists in mind.

Justin EllisJune 20, 2012

Recovers.org builds a platform to structure data to improve local diaster relief

The site helps communities assess damage, organize volunteers, and direct donations.

Knight announces a data-centric class of News Challenge winners

The new class focuses on a set of tools for journalism and community information. Joshua Benton

Adrienne LaFranceSeptember 21, 2012

After tracking radiation levels in Fukushima, Safecast is measuring air quality in the states

Knight News Challenge funding will help Safecast spearhead data collection in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Detroit.

Pop Up Archive is open-source software to help producers preserve sound, painlessly

The Knight News Challenge winners want to help radio producers archive and organize their raw tape with simple web-based software. Andrew Phelps

Adrienne LaFranceSeptember 26, 2012

New York Times, Washington Post developers team up to create Open Elections database

Standardized state-by-state elections database gets a Knight News Challenge boost.

Andrew PhelpsOctober 3, 2012

While Apple and Google bicker, Knight invests in open maps

OpenStreetMap gets its first major investment with a $575,000 Knight News Challenge grant.

Knight funding expands IRE’s journalist-friendly Census site

Developers from The Chicago Tribune, WNYC, and The Spokesman-Review will expand Census.IRE.org to include more data. Justin Ellis

LocalData wants to democratize the process of gathering community information

Developed by Code for America fellows, the Knight News Challenge winner allows people to create, collect, and manage data. Justin Ellis