Want to win up to $35,000 in micro-grants to support live, local news experiments? And also possibly win up to $100,000 in additional funding? The Online News Association has launched a new $1 million grant program to encourage universities and local new outlets to collaborate on new ways to teach journalism.

According to ONA, the Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education seeks to "hack the journalism curriculum using customized versions of the teaching hospital model." This fund seeks to encourage more collaborative local news coverage, bridge academic and professional gaps and more.

Partners in this two-year program include the Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund.

Eligible to apply are U.S.-based colleges or universities working in collaborative teams made up of educators, students, researchers, media professionals, technologists and designers to provide local news coverage. Project teams may include any local news or information outlet. Projects should use engagement platforms to involve local communities and encourage professionals and scholars to work together to study the experiments.

Learn more and apply now.
Deadline for applications: Feb. 13, 2014.

Questions, e-mail ONA Operations Director Irving Washington