53 Semi-Finalists Reach Next Round of Knight News Challenge

The "Knight Foundation recently announced":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/32943247997/semi-finalists-advance-in-news-challenge-mobile that 53 semi-finalists have been chosen to move onto the next stage of its News Challenge on mobile. The Knight News Challenge now "offers three rounds":http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2012/02/how-knight-improved-its-news-challenge-grant-process059.html instead of one competition per year. This round focuses on funding innovators who are using mobile to change the face of the media industry. "We know that we (and our kids) have grown attached to our mobile devices," Knight's John Bracken and Christopher Sopher "wrote in a blog post":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/29413096106/announcing-knight-news-challenge-mobile announcing the round, "but we have less clarity about the ways people are using them, or might use them, as citizens, content producers and consumers to tell, share and receive stories." Knight last month "announced the winners":http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2012/09/knight-announces-winners-for-news-challenge-on-data263.html of its last News Challenge, on data, and it has revealed that the first round of next year's News Challenge will have to do with "tools for open government":http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2012/9/20/winners-news-challenge-data/. Here's the list of who's moving forward to the next round of the mobile News Challenge (13 were closed entries so we're sharing 40 of the 53): "A Mobile Good Health Community":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31078225345/a-mobile-good-health-buena-salud-community "Abayima":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/30520701581/abayima-messaging-when-mobile-networks-are-compromised "Amongst":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31058795611/amongst "Apps for Good":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273504483/apps-for-good-creating-the-next-generation-of "Augmented Reality & Geolocation Toolkit":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272218521/augmented-reality-geolocation-toolkit "Backyard Budget Mobile":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273502685/backyard-budget-mobile-mint-com-for-the-federal-budget "Boomerang Mojo News":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266032505/boomerang-mojo-news "Byzantium":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273816271/byzantium-a-spatial-communications-environment "Carbon Creditor":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272951917/carbon-creditor "CityStatus":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273811432/citystatus-brings-place-based-city-data-to-citizens "Commons":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31195174439/commons "DialFly":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273808513/dialfly "documentaryMapper":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273501869/documentarymapper "Elva":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31195165922/elva-bringing-together-citizens-and-decision-makers-to "Escape Velocity":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272243475/escape-velocity-p2p-distributed-publishing "FINtegrate":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272213449/fintegrate-strengthening-communities-by-integrating "Human.io":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/30587022791/human-io-turn-your-audience-into-your-army "Is this for real?":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273840976/is-this-for-real-validating-and-authenticating-mobile "Live field reporting narratives":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266060174/live-field-reporting-narratives-with-meograph "LocalWiki Mobile":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273837498/localwiki-mobile "Louisiana Smart Grid":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272141716/louisiana-smart-grid "mActivist in a Box":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266092755/mactivist-in-a-box-distributed-secure-bottom-up "Mobilizing Psychology":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272175135/mobilizing-psychology "n0tice Customizable citizen reporting":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272242514/customizable-citizen-reporting-tool-for-publishers "National Council on Aging":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273838564/national-council-on-aging "Navajo InfoWire":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266047908/the-navajo-infowire-a-news-platform-and-civic "NC Mobile Voter Guide":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272153473/north-carolina-mobile-voter-guide "Open 311 Mobile Dashboard":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273817038/open311-mobile-dashboard "Open mHealth":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272826156/open-mhealth-making-sense-of-mobile-health-data "Project Mobile Connections":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266090041/project-mobile-connections "Remote Access: Connecting threatened communities with the outside world":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273491314/remote-access-connecting-threatened-communities-with "ReSystem: Rethinking media in developing countries":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/30998983685/re-system-rethinking-media-in-developing-countries "scalable networked community radio":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31214342455/scalable-networked-community-radio-infrastructure-for "Secure Mobile Communications Tool for Journalists":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/30473917630/secure-mobile-communications-tool-for-investigative "StormCrowd":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31272208903/stormcrowd "Textizen: Citizen feedback for the digital age":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266031740/textizen-citizen-feedback-for-the-digital-age "Thread":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31273506160/thread "Virtual town meeting":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31195177742/virtual-town-meeting "WeFarm: Reaching the 75%":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31058802690/wefarm-reaching-the-75 "Wikipedia mobile":http://newschallenge.tumblr.com/post/31266062674/wikipedia-mobile-informing-millions-of-new-readers What do you think about the mobile finalists? Who are your favorites, and who do you think should win? Desiree Everts is the associate editor for Idea Lab and PBS MediaShift. She's dabbled in digital media for the past decade including stints at CNET News and Wired magazine. When she's not editing, you can find her exploring the nearby redwoods and running after her chickens and her own brood.