Earlier this year, I wrote about the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge’s award winners and the significance of this new model of grantmaking.

They’ve just announced that the Second Round of the News Challenge is open. Marc Fest, Director of Communications at The James S. and John L. Knight Foundation was gracious enough to answer some questions about the News Challenge today. Go apply. The deadline is October 15, 2007.

CTF: I notice that the News Challenge site has been redesigned with more functionality? What did you implement and what is your vision of the site as part of the News Challenge?

Marc Fest: We didn’t really add more functions to newschallenge.org. We aimed to make the site cleaner and also give newcomers who may not have yet an idea suitable for the contest a starting point by providing a basic question (“What do you want to know?”) that may lead to ideas for projects that will qualify for the Knight News Challenge contest.

CTF: What new models of journalism and technology have come out of the News Challenge so far?

Marc Fest: The first year winners have only recently started working on their projects, so it’s a bit early yet to point out new models. You can read about the winning projects at www.newschallenge.org, and yes, we definitely hope that the News Challenge will produce ideas that will help with the transformation taking place in journalism.

CTF: Do you envision the News Challenge changing how the Knight Foundation funds in the future?

Marc Fest: The basis for all Knight Foundation funding is that we look for opportunities that help create transformational change. If the News Challenge should produce further funding opportunities that fit this requirement then it is conceivable that this would impact a future funding decision. Bottom line is, Knight Foundation’s eyes are firmly on transformational funding opportunities.

CTF: Any thoughts on how the award recipients will measure their success?

Marc Fest: The bigger grants have an evaluation budget built in. All winners are required to blog about their progress and experience.

CTF: Besides the cash investments, what do you see impact of the News Challenge being on the award recipients?

Marc Fest: If you receive a Knight News Challenge award it clearly gives you bragging rights because we’re looking for ideas with the potential to help create transformational change. If the News Challenge can help motivate creative individuals to come up with such exceptional ideas, there’s clearly a life-changing potential in there, both for the individuals themselves, and for everyone else who may benefit from those ideas.

I’m glad that the Knight Foundation is innovating its approach to journalism and grantmaking. Thanks, Marc!