I’m at the  E&P/MediaWeek Interactive Media Conference in Miami. Knight Foundation president Alberto Ibargüen just announced the winners of the News Challenge, in which $12 million in grants were announced out of the five-year program’s $25 million contest. The goal is to help lead journalism into its digital future. I got to meet nearly all of the awardees.

Here’s some information the foundation released about the top winners:

- The Media Lab and Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology receive $5 million to create a Center for Future Civic Media to develop, test and study new forms of high-tech community news.

- Journalist/web developer Adrian Holovaty, creator of chicagocrime.org, receives $1.1 million to create a series of city-specific web sites devoted to public records and hyperlocal information. He’s taking a two-year leave from the Washington Post to begin hiring a development team.

- VillageSoup in Maine receives $885,000 to build free software to allow others to replicate the citizen journalism and community participation site VillageSoup.

- MTV receives $700,000 to establish a Knight Mobile Youth Journalist (Knight "MyJos") in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to report weekly – on cell phones, and other media – on key issues, including the environment, 2008 presidential election and sexual health.

- Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism receives $639,000 for nine full journalism scholarships for students with undergraduate degrees in computer science.

- The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University receives $552,000 to create an incubator where students will learn how to create and launch digital media products.

For more:

Editors Weblog: The Knight Foundation announces winners of the first Knight News Challenge.

Miami Herald: Challenge winners have a new take on the news.

JD Lasica is founder of Socialmedia.biz. We work with large companies and nonprofits on social media strategies and campaigns. See JD’s business profile, contact him or leave a comment.