Student Journalists: Submit your most interesting public records requests for a chance to win our monthly nationwide FOIA contest, a collaboration between SPJ New England, MuckRock and the New England First Amendment Coalition.
The contest helps student journalists practice their transparency skills while giving budding journalists free access to MuckRock’s FOIA tools and a monthly shot at a prize package. Participants are invited to submit a public records request for any topic they find interesting, such as a police, fire or animal control report.
Each month, we select one request that helped reveal important documents. Ridiculous agency obfuscation or egregious denials are also eligible for the win. The contest is open to student journalists across the country.
This contest is made possible with grant funds from the SPJ Foundation.
How To Enter:
Follow these few steps and you’ll have a chance to find a story that may be new to you.
- Optional Step Zero: Get a free MuckRock account.
- Register an account here, using your school email address.
- Click here and then click “Request to Join.”
- You’ll then be approved by an SPJ member, after which you’ll receive a notification and can start filing through MuckRock.
- Step One: File a records request! You can file through MuckRock or on your own, your preference. If you’d like some inspiration, search through MuckRock’s database of request ideas for topics that interest you — you can swap out the agency with one local to you, or just use the language as inspiration for another request you think will shed some interesting insights into something you or your readers care about.
- Step Two: Get the documents! This is the hard part, but we’ve got the resources to help.
- For students in New England, check out NEFAC’s FOI Guide.
- For students anywhere in the country, check out MuckRock’s FOIA 101 resources, their guides to each states’ laws, and RCFP’s open government guide. You can also hop into MuckRock’s FOIA chatroom to get feedback on request language, how to workaround objections and more or check out their FOIA 101 video on YouTube..
- Step Three: Submit your request at this form. If you get back the documents, let us know what you’ve found in them using the official entry form! But even if your request was rejected, we want to hear about it – the most egregious rejections are also eligible for being a monthly winner. We’ll pick out one request that helped dislodge important documents or which showcases ridiculous agency obfuscation each month.
Prize Package
Each monthly winner will receive:
- Clip Wireless Microphone
- SPJ Coffee Tumbler
- Laptop Bag
- Smartphone Gimbal/Tripod
- SPJ Sweatshirt
- SPJ stickers
Contact SPJ New England President Adam Sennott at sennott.adam@gmail.com with questions about the contest.
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