NEW YORK, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Hearst Corporation's Innovation group announced today that it will partner with the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Adobe Systems Inc. to launch a student design competition to develop interactive projects that will ultimately be used by the Corporation.

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With guidance from Hearst Corporate Innovation and employees across Hearst's diverse communication and technology businesses, University of Missouri students will develop three to five interactive projects using Adobe's new product, Adobe® Flash® Catalyst, and Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 (CS4). Hearst is the first media partner to participate in the Reynolds Journalism Institute competition, which is now in its third year. The projects could produce real possibilities for both the advertising and news reporting sides of the journalism industry, and Hearst intends to explore the possibility of incorporating the winning projects into new and existing businesses.

Journalism and computer science students at Fudan University in Shanghai, China will also conduct a similar contest. Both Fudan and RJI winners will showcase their projects in Shanghai as part of the 2010 World Expo. In May 2010, the winners will be selected and will be invited to present their ideas to Adobe and Hearst executives at Adobe's world headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

The first RJI contest used Adobe® AIR® technology and last year's focused on building applications (apps) for Apple's iPhone. Three teams of students in last year's contest produced applications that are currently available in the iTunes Apple Store. The projects included a news aggregator called Newsflash; a specialty entertainment guide app to serve the NBC affiliate and newspaper; and a free real estate app named NearBuy, currently the second-most downloaded real estate app in the iTunes store.

"Hearst is committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurial thinking both internally and across the communications technology industry," said Beth Polish, director of Corporate Innovation and senior vice president of Hearst Interactive Media. "We look forward to working with RJI and the University of Missouri students to mentor the development of their ideas and are excited about the possibility of launching new businesses with their inspiration."

Launched in April, Hearst Corporate Innovation, a division of Hearst Corporation, works to drive innovative and entrepreneurial thinking across the company's various business units and assists employees with the development of new business concepts with the goal of turning them into profitable ventures.

"We're excited to partner with Hearst and Adobe as we launch the third of our annual RJI Student Competitions," says Mike McKean, Missouri School of Journalism professor and director of the RJI Futures Lab. "Together, we'll showcase how journalists, marketers and advertisers can create more -- and more cost-effective -- interactive content that will strengthen the ties between media companies, audiences and citizens."

Adobe has offered up both Flash Catalyst and CS4 for the student contest. Flash Catalyst, which Adobe will release next year, makes it possible for designers and developers to work more efficiently together, allowing designers to implement interactivity into their designs, which developers can then use to build upon.

"Adobe has a long history of working with educational institutions and media companies and we are excited to support the Missouri School of Journalism and Hearst to empower students to create interactive projects with Flash Catalyst," said Megan Stewart, director of worldwide higher education at Adobe. "Flash Catalyst will enable the journalism students to rapidly create expressive interfaces and interactive content without writing code. They will be able to easily collaborate with computer science and design students, gaining real-world experience and the skills they will need in the industry."

About Hearst Corporation

Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 38 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union; as well as interests in an additional 43 daily and 74 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, History and ESPN; as well as business publishing, including a minority joint venture interest in Fitch Ratings; Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

About Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (rjionline.org) engages media professionals, scholars and citizens in programs aimed at improving the practice and understanding of journalism. RJI collaborates with news and technology companies, professional associations, foundations and individuals to generate and test innovative models and technologies for journalism and advertising. Six Donald W. Reynolds Fellows spend an academic year at RJI, working with Missouri faculty and students and RJI staff to develop new ways to gather, process and deliver news, information and advertising.

SOURCE Hearst Corporation

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