Helium and its partners congratulate everyone on this page for great writing in our Citizen Journalism Award contests. Each individual shines with newsworthy articles, essays, magazine-style pieces and other forms of citizen journalism.
To see the contest winners for each of Helium’s partners, please click through the list below:
- View the 1H20 winners Read more about the 1H20 Citizen Journalism Awards, presented by the Knight Center for International Media and ITVS.
- View the Common Language Project winners Read more about the Common Language Project Citizen Journalism Awards.
- View the OneWorld winners Read more about the OneWorld Citizen Journalism Awards.
- View the OpenSecrets.org/CRP winners Read more about the OpenSecrets.org/CRP Citizen Journalism Awards.
- View the Peta winners Read more about the Peta Citizen Journalism Awards.
- View the Pulitzer Center winners Read more about the Pulitzer Center’s Global Issues/Citizen Voices Awards.
- View the ResearchSEA winners Read more about the ResearchSEA-Asia Research News Citizen Journalism Awards.
- View the Sunshine Week winners Read more about the Sunshine Week Citizen Journalism Awards.
Please note: The following essay contests are complete, but you can still submit articles to these titles.
View the 1H20 winners
- Subhadeep Dasgupta:
- How do the programs and actions of corporations compare with what they say about their interest and involvement in the worldwide water crisis?
- John Devera:
- Is corporate involvement in the world water crisis good for society?
- George Lorimer:
- With so much water apparently available on the planet, how can there be so many shortages of drinking water?
- Daniel Xiao Wang:
- How is climate change affecting the provisioning of water to people in the poorest regions of the world?
- Stephen Bindon:
- What are some examples of corruption involving water and what is the impact of the corruption on people and communities?
- David Gittlin:
- When will people worldwide have enough clean, safe water to drink?
- Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha:
- Will there be wars over the ownership of water?
- K L Humphreys:
- Will there be wars over the ownership of water?
View the Common Language Project winners
- Anje Duckels:
- What does it take to make poverty an important news story?
- Katie Rice:
- Is technology the key to alleviating world poverty?
- Hannah Kempf:
- Is it the media’s responsibility to go beyond what’s happening today in order to predict future conflicts?
View the OneWorld winners
- Shahjahan Siraj:
- How developing countries are adapting or preparing to adapt to the impacts of global climate change
- Ann Marie Dwyer:
- How are people in your part of the world coping with the increasing cost of oil?
- Preetvy Ramasamy:
- How are people in your part of the world coping with the increasing cost of oil?
- Sharon Cullars:
- How selling goods under the Fair Trade label has improved the lives of people who produce goods, such as coffee, tea, chocolate, rice, flowers and more
View the OpenSecrets.org/CRP winners
- Kristin Schaaf:
- Did campaign contributions and lobbying by the financial sector contribute to the meltdown on Wall Street?
- Cassie Fleming:
- How have campaign contributions and lobbying efforts influenced policy on an issue you care about?
View the Peta winners
- Amanda Day:
- The effect of factory farming on the environment
- Cate Stewart:
- Would you eat animal stem cell grown ‘clean meat’ to protect animals and the environment?
View the Pulitzer Center winners
Contest Four
- Shaheen Darr:
- What responsibility does the US bear for helping to solve the Iraqi refugee crisis?
- Jimmy Nightingale:
- Has the US media presented a fair and accurate portrayal of the Georgia/Russia conflict?
- Sarah Harrison:
- What does media freedom mean in a place like Sri Lanka that is determined to stamp out a long-standing insurrection?
- Brian D. Bolin:
- What would be the most dramatic difference, in terms of U.S. foreign policy, between a President John McCain and a President Barack Obama?
- Donald Potochny:
- Drugs, oil and possible war: What’s driving the conflicts along Colombia’s borders with Venezuela and Ecuador?
- David Chapronière:
- How can US foreign policy be improved by the paradox that Iran is often viewed as America’s most serious threat even though its youthful population is among the most pro-western Muslim countries?
- Matthew J. Geiger:
- Why does the U.S. government support independence for the breakaway Serb territory of Kosovo but oppose independence for the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?
Contest Three
- Julia Bodeeb White:
- What are the key obstacles to obtaining sustainable peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and what steps are necessary to overcome them?
- Donald Potochny:
- How is the struggle for water, such as in Ethiopia and Kenya, shaping conflicts in this century?
- Glynnis Hayward:
- How does stigma and discrimination, as witnessed in Jamaica, perpetuate the global HIV/AIDS epidemic?
- Eric Lannak:
- What role should the US play in reducing the production of illicit drugs-such as cocaine and heroin-in places like Bolivia and Afghanistan?
Contest Two
- Robin Finesmith:
- Why has international intervention to stop the fighting in Darfur failed, and what policy alternatives might succeed?
- Adam Simpson:
- Should a US company be legally liable in US courts for environmental consequences of its operations abroad?
- Russell H. Smith:
- How should Lebanon address its Palestinian issue and what can the international community do to help?
- Danny Hosein:
- In a closed society like the military dictatorship of Burma, how can journalists find the truth?
Contest One
- Deborah Bauers:
- Does President Hugo Chavez’s criticism of US policies represent popular sentiments in Venezuela, and perhaps Latin America at large?
- Kallie Szczepanski:
- Should the US consider Ethiopia an ally despite its poor human rights record?
- Debra Triplett:
- What responsibility does the US have toward Vietnamese who believe they’ve suffered illnesses as a result of their exposure to the dioxin Agent Orange?
- Sara Turner:
- Who should take a stand against abusive child labor being used in Congo to dig out coltan?
- Loyce Kareri:
- Why should the world care about the environment in places like Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Rwanda?
- David Chaproniere:
- Is the accidental killing of civilians by US forces, in places like Somalia, an unavoidable part of the war on terrorism?
- Ravi Embar:
- What would be the most effective way for the Indian government to respond to the Maoist insurgency?
- Stephanie Whybrow:
- Should US environmental standards apply when multinational companies develop the petroleum resources of fragile ecosystems such as Peru’s Amazon?
- Petra Newman:
- How concerned should Americans be about HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean?
- Steve Hutcheson:
- Can the US military be effective in nonmilitary efforts to revive a war-battered community?
- R. L. Hanlon:
- What responsibility does the world bear for rehabilitating child soldiers from the horror of serving in armed conflict?
- Caroline Harmon:
- Should a global climate agreement hold the US to a higher environmental standard than the rest of the world?
- Daniel Figueroa:
- What is the responsibility of American companies and consumers for unsafe working conditions in Chinese factories?
View the ResearchSEA winners
- Kristin Schaaf:
- Feeding the poor today and everyone on the planet tomorrow: What are the issues, and what can be done to avert a global food crisis?
View the Sunshine Week winners
- KD Zuppinger :
- What do you think the Obama administration’s priorities for transparent government should be?
- Erin Knight:
- Paxus: (These two winners were chosen for the following Debate title. Erin won for the “Yes” side and Paxus won for the “No” side.)
- Should government candidates be required to hold press conferences and answer questions from the media and the public?
- Birupakshya Dixit:
- As we celebrate International Right to Know Day on Sept. 28, should access to information be considered a fundamental human right? (Winning article chosen by guest judge Laura Neuman, associate director of the Americas Program and Access to Information project manager of The Carter Center in Atlanta.)
- John McDevitt:
- Does government have a role in overseeing the release of results from federally funded science, or does the public have the right to view such information unfiltered
- Dorothy Skinner:
- Should presidential candidates be required to disclose their health records?
- Ryan Headley:
- US elections 2008: Are candidates missing an opportunity to connect with voters on open government issues?
