OpenCivic - Knight News Challenge 2009

We just received an email confirmation from Knight News Challenge 2009 organizers that OpenCivic has been shortlisted in the first round and is invited to submit a full proposal.

Everyone at OpenCivic is thrilled with this news and we would like to thank all of you to review, rate and comment on our application. Also, thank you for taking out time to reading our application because even that counts. We would love to hear from you and seek ideas to grow the OpenCivic collective.

In the last couple of months we have not only been able to get a fabulous group of people to join the initiative but also made significant progress on releasing a initial API. In the coming month we would be not only releasing the initial API but also make progress in involving everyone in the collective through online collaboration tools; so watch out – blog, twitter, wiki, code repository and mailing list.

For the Knight News Challenge 2009 we would need to submit a full proposal by Jan 31. We would love to hear from you on how we can make the application better – so please get in touch.

Just stumbled upon the Knight News Challenge initiative. Their tag line got me interested, “You invent it, We fund it.”

More about the Knight News Challenge from their website:

Knight News Challenge

Getting the news and information we need to improve our communities is more important than ever. Send us your project. We seek innovations that use new or available technology to distribute content in local communities. Take part in the $5 million annual Knight News Challenge contest. Anybody worldwide can apply.
There are three rules to follow to apply to the 2010 Knight News Challenge:

• Use digital, open-source technology.
• Distribute news in the public interest.
• Test your project in a local community.

I also happened to browse through previous winners and was pleasantly surprised to read about EveryBlock founded by Adrian Holovaty. Adrian is the co-creator of the Django project.

Considering our synergies match with that of the Knight News Challenge – OpenCivic has sent an application for it. Please take out time to read, evaluate and comment on it here.

http://bit.ly/knc-opencivic

Look forward for your constructive participation.