Two projects proposed by Eastern Europeans became winners of Knight News Challenge 2008 supporting innovative initiatives in social media.

Project receiving $600,000 award presented as…

The people of Sochi, the Russian resort city hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics, will be able to use the latest online tools to both discuss and influence the impact of the games. A web site and database will allow the community to track and debate how the plans are changing life there over a five-year period. The idea is to help residents better prepare for the Olympics, to inform the media about the city’s issues and to use discussions about the games as a way to improve life in Sochi.

Alexander Zolotarev is a Fulbright Scholar at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, where he conducts research for his Ph.D. in citizen journalism and online communities. He will soon defend his dissertation at the Moscow State University Faculty of Journalism. After writing a Russian travel guide to Norway at 21, Zolotarev worked as an editor at several magazines, including Harvard Business Review and National Geographic Traveler. He has consistently been involved in projects on pop culture and entertainment, including the launch of the IMAX Theatre in Moscow.

Another CEE project to receive $15,000 grant was proposed by Andrius Kulikauskas whom I met on Barcamp Baltics 2008. Here’s description:

Andrius Kulikauskas will blog about different methods of getting digital information to rural areas that don’t have Internet access. He will discuss using a “reader,” or a device for writing and reviewing text files stored on any USB flash drive. The device is meant for people in rural areas with marginal online access so that messages can be physically transported to and from places connected to the Internet. In this system, an individual would load a USB drive at an Internet café, then travel to a village where the information could be read with another device. This method will be discussed in contrast to the pros and cons of using the $100 wireless laptop.

Andrius Kulikauskas is a dual citizen of Lithuania and the United States. In 1998, he founded Minciu Sodas, an online laboratory for serving independent thinkers around the world. He wants to organize 100,000 of them, enough for a vibrant culture. He organizes them by asking: What is your deepest value in life? What is a question that you don’t know the answer to, but wish to answer? What would you like to achieve? His own deepest value is “living by truth.”

Brenda, my congratulations to Freedom Phone / Dial-up Radio project of Zimbabwe!

See Winners 2008 page or download PDF for the full list.

PS And follow www.newschallenge.org for the next contest. It is to start on Sept. 1.