It's a simple idea. Rather than rely on one leader, as essayist David Gergen warns against, fill a room with smart, committed, entrepreneurial leaders bent on social change and see what happens.

The 25 Knight News Challenge winners are a distinctive and eclectic group ranging from MIT to MTV to individual bloggers. The contest, open to anyone, anywhere, seeks and funds ideas using digital news and information to build and bind community in specific geographic places.

The digital revolution is not for the faint of heart. At two New York State campuses — Columbia University's prestigious Graduate School of Journalism and Stony Brook University — journalism deans Nicholas Lemann and Howard Schneider are leading the way in teaching leadership and news literacy for the next generation.

For a foundation whose mission is to build community, the arts provide a most effective glue. In the Knight communities of Miami, Akron, Charlotte and Columbus, Ga., new cultural institutions are integral parts of booming civic revitalizations.

"The more you're involved in your community, the stronger the civic fabric becomes." That's Knight Foundation's Susan Patterson talking about StepUp!, a big experiment under way in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where a potential gold mine of civic engagement relies on the pool of retired professionals, seasonal visitors and second-home owners drawn by golf, sun and sand.

Ken Stapleton, executive director of the University Park Alliance, calls the partners in the long-term revitalization collaborative "very, very strategic thinkers, bold leaders, people who aren't afraid to take risks." They started in 2000 with a bold idea to take charge of the community's revitalization with seed funding from Knight Foundation.