Part of my job is reading, writing and editing case studies on best practices from Newspaper Association of America member newspapers. We’ve published a ton of those this year, and many times it’s really inspiring to read them. Positive energy from the newspaper industry: call it a job perk.

But innovation is coming from outside newspaper companies as well – schools, think tanks, independent journalists, etc. Toward the end of May, I wrote about the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation News Challenge grants. The foundation awarded more than 30 grants to people who came up with innovative media ideas that incorporated digital media, new forms of public interest news and targeted a geographically-based community. Some of the grant winners came from newspaper companies, some didn’t.

Regardless of where they came from, I’m enamored with all of these people because the way they’ve thought about journalism as it relates to local markets and technology is pretty impressive. As I wrote in my July Digital Edge column in PRESSTIME Magazine (which should be hitting your mailboxes shortly), we can all learn from at least some of the grant winners’ ideas.

Fortunately, the Poynter Institute is helping out. E-Media Tidbits writers are mid-way through an ongoing series of interviews with several of the grant winners. Separately, all the grant winners will be providing updates of their progress on Mark Glaser’s blog, MediaShift, later this year.

If you’re interested in entering the 2008 Knight Foundation News Challenge, the Foundation will start accepting applications July 1. Go to www.newschallenge.org for entry information next week.

I strongly recommend you go ahead and read the E-Media Tidbits series. Get inspired!