From A to Zeega
Three Harvard affiliates — two fellows and a graduate student — have won the Knight News Challenge, a fiercely competitive international contest that funds digital news experiments that use technology “to inform and engage communities.” The prizewinning projects were selected from 2,500 submissions and were announced today (June 23). Contestants from Harvard have won a few times during the five-year life of the Knight contest, but never for as much money — a grant worth $420,000, said Colin Maclay, managing director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The compensation is “insane,” he added. “Getting into Harvard College has nothing on this.” The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsors the competition, calls its winners “journalism futurists.” They are described as thinkers and designers who employ emerging technologies to make citizen journalism more accessible, compelling, and intellectually rich. Starting Sept. 1, the three Harvard team members, who were Knight finalists last...