The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) has partnered with Helium to bring you the OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalism Awards. Compete by writing unique, compelling articles about money’s influence on US elections and public policy. You could be named the next OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalist and win a cash prize.
About the contest
The assignment: CRP will feature one new title each month. Follow CRP’s article guidelines, research the featured topic using OpenSecrets.org and other resources and write a compelling article for your chance to win.
The awards: CRP will pick one winning article each month. The winning writer will receive an OpenSecrets.org Citizen Journalism Award from the Center for Responsive Politics and a $100 cash prize. CRP will also feature the winning articles on its website and in its email newsletters, which reach thousands of journalists, activists, academics and citizens.
Get started
- Pick a title: See CRP’s contest title below. You can also visit CRP’s partner page at Helium to learn more about its mission and to write to more (noncontest) titles.
- Research: Follow CRP’s article guidelines:
CRP’s award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, is an unparalleled resource for researching the influence of industries and interests in US politics, and on issues that affect all our lives. The more you draw on OpenSecrets.org in your article, the better. Please attribute all data and statistics and provide URLs, whether you find the information on OpenSecrets.org or elsewhere.
Expressing your opinion is fine, but please back it up with facts. - Write: Write a unique, well-researched article in 750 words or less.
Current contest title
There are no current contest titles at this time. Please check back soon.
Previous contest titles
These titles are no longer open to the contest, but you may still write to them.
- If you could change the nation’s campaign finance system, what would you do – if anything – and why?
- As the nation debates health care reform, whose voice is being heard the most: Citizens, politicians or special interests?
- Did campaign contributions and lobbying by the financial sector contribute to the meltdown on Wall Street?
- How have campaign contributions and lobbying efforts influenced policy on an issue you care about?
Be sure to check out the winners from all of our Citizen Journalism contests!.
Visit CRP’s partner page at Helium to learn more about its mission.
