Help save the environment and possibly journalism and win a trip to the Arctic. That’s the idea behind Hot Dish, a contest-cum-research project that former Microsoft techie and NewsCloud founder Jeff Reifman is launching on Facebook with a $249,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Hot Dish is geared for teen-agers and young adults. Working with researchers at the University of Minnesota, Reifman said the goal is to get frontline data on how incentives can impact participation in an application on a social networking site focused on current events and social issues.

Hot Dish is focused on climate change and includes content from Grist.org, a Seattle-based environmental news web site.

The Knight Foundation funds research on improving journalism. Reifman said the Hot Dish project has potential value to news websites interested in using Facebook to reach and interact with audiences, especially young people.

“What we are trying to do is pry open Facebook and see if we can get young people to engage – not in the usual talking with friends – but to engage in issues of social importance, like the environment,” said Reifman.

The contest runs through May 3 and is open to 16-to-25 year olds in the U.S. Participants can earn points by a volunteering for an Earth Day activity or using energy-saving compact florescent light bulbs. The grand prize is an eco-friendly Arctic expedition for two.

Other prizes include an Amazon Kindle 2 , Apple MacBook or organic cotton T-shirts, gift cards and fair-trade coffees, teas and chocolates.

Greg Lamm covers the media for the Puget Sound Business Journal, publisher of TechFlash.