Knight News Challenge is looking for your best ideas
Photo by Curious Zed/Flickr, Creative Commons license

Did you miss deadline for the $5 million Knight News Challenge?

Don’t worry. They have extended it until Dec 15. And, no, it was not for lack of interest. The Knight Foundation is trying to expand the applicant pool in some new directions. The Web site says, “we think the contest will benefit from additional outreach to communities of entrepreneurs and software developers.”

Read more about how to enter — new tips and strategies are being posted all the time — on the Knight News Challenge Web site.

(The following was published previously on the JobsPage.)

Think of it as the Publishers Clearing House for journalism. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is looking to spread around $5 million to encourage journalistic innovation.

Through the Knight News Challenge, the foundation hopes to identify and fund several good news media projects that will use open-source technology to foster good, new journalism within communities.

According to the Knight News Challenge Web site, winners from the 2009 Knight News Challenge include:

* A web site that will enhance investigative reporting by making source documents easy to find, share and read. www.documentcloud.org, $719,500

* The online Gotham Gazette focuses on New York City issues and received $250,000 to expand its City Council coverage with a wiki devoted to local legislators. www.councilpedia.org

* MediaBugs aims to change the climate in which journalists are shame for admitting their errors, by promoting transparency and providing recognition for those who admit and fix their mistakes. $335,000

* A suite of easy tools to use on any standard set of data ranging from government databases to demographics and statistics. $243,600

In addition to being one of the richest pries for digital media ideas, The Knight News Challenge has lots of helpful advice from people like winner Amy Gahran and probably the easiest early-application process of any foundation.

The first hurdle is a very manageable 750-word application with up to five attachments. With that short proposal, you can find out whether you are make it to the next cut. It’s worth a shot and there is lots of support on the Knight News Challenge Web site to tell you how to put an application together.

And if you’re really worried about someone stealing your idea, this year, they have added an option for innovators who want to remain secretive.