Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "journalism open"

The Sacramento Press Journalism Open 2012 begins Jan. 1

2011-12-05T07:22:58Z

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to publish your first article, consider the rewards of doing it on The Sacramento Press.

Last year we gave out thousands in cash prizes to winners of The Sacramento Press Journalism Open, and we’re ready to do it again.

This is the third year that we’ve hosted The Sacramento Press Journalism Open. The contest is pro-am, meaning writers of all skill levels are welcome to enter.

If you aren’t familiar with The Sacramento Press, we’re a hyperlocal online newspaper that focuses on community news. We aim to be the best source for local news and we would like you to help us achieve that by sharing your stories. No reporter knows more than you when it comes to issues affecting your neighborhood, your stance on why your daughter’s school should stay open, or an event you witnessed firsthand.

More than 1,700 people have written articles on The Sacramento Press since the site launched in October 2008. We look forward to seeing many new bylines – including yours – as the contest heats up.

We awarded prizes to 12 individuals last year, and this year we have $2,000 in prizes to give away.

The winning article for the Journalism Open 2011 was about the state of Sacramento’s bridges and was written by Isaac Gonzalez.

To see the list of last year’s winners, click here.

Before you publish your story, we highly recommend submitting your story for copy editing. We offer free copy editing to catch spelling errors and/or grammatical mistakes in your articles. To submit your story for copy editing, email the story to journalism@sacramentopress.com. Your edited story will be returned to you within 24-48 hours.*

*Depending on the volume of submissions being sent in for copy editing, it might take longer than the normal 24-hour turnaround time.

If you have questions about the copy editing process, email support@sacramentopress.com.

Publishing an article on The Sacramento Press is easier than you might think. To start writing, simply go to the top of this page and click the "Sign Up" button and follow the prompts. You will be asked for information and to accept our terms of use agreement. After you are signed up, click the "Write" button at the top of the page, create a Storyline and start writing.

We suggest that you write your story in a separate writing application (i.e. Word) and then, when you've finished and had it copy edited, cut and paste it into our site.

Important: Every story you enter/post on the site must be tagged "Open2012" in the tag section. Just write those words in the space provided under tags. You should also add tags to you story, especially choosing one of our “section” tags – Culture, Business, Politics and Sports – depending on which ones fits the story best.

Hit "Publish," and you have posted your first story on The Sacramento Press. You've also been entered in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!

To enter a photo that is accompanying someone else's story, tag the story with the following: open2012yourname (example: open2012JoshRamsey).

Remember, no story is too small. Are you concerned about the safety of your neighborhood park? Do you have insight into the upcoming City Council election? Have a favorite landmark that you’d like to share? Write about it on The Sacramento Press and you could be walking away with the $600 grand prize.

So, what are you waiting for? Commit acts of journalism and be a part of the growing community of citizen journalists.

CATEGORIES & CRITERIA FOR JUDGING

Entries will be judged by our editorial staff, and that judgment will be subjective. But we will be using criteria for what we think good journalism is. Among those criteria are:

Accuracy: Facts, spelling and quotes should be correct. Double-check everything and use your computer’s spell check.
Writing style: Writing should be clear, concise and enjoyable.
Local focus: Stories should be set in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer or El Dorado counties.
Sourcing: Include a minimum of two living, breathing sources in your story. Quotes from people who know what you’re writing about will always enliven and improve your story. Aim to include different perspectives. Wikipedia, About.com, press releases and book or newspaper excerpts are not acceptable sources.
Impact: Your story will also be judged on how readers react in the conversation on The Sacramento Press, as well as how it is received in the real world.
Mostly though, we’ll judge entries based on how interesting they are, if they’re news or a new approach to an old story, how well-researched they are, the quality of the writing and the quotes.

Stories can be any length, but they must be original nonfiction about the Sacramento area.

Stories may not be re-posts from blogs or other publications, print or online.

Finally, we will give extra weight to high-quality photographs, either accompanying stories or standing on their own with explanatory captions.

RULES

To be eligible, stories must be posted on the site, by you (using your real name), between 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2012 and 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2012. We will be able to help you post either over the phone or in our office.*

*Appointments must be made for in-office help. Contact support@sacramentopress.com to arrange an appointment.

You must live or work in one of our four home counties listed above, and be at least 18 years of age. High school students under the age of 18 can enter if they have a parental consent form.*

*Parental consent forms must be signed in person by a parent or legal guardian of the minor entering an article. To arrange for this, please email support@sacramentopress.com.

You may enter as many different stories as you like, but please enter/post each story only once! Make sure to tag it "Open2012" in the tag section or it will not be counted as a submission. There is no charge to enter.

Be sure to reread and double check what you've written; once it is published on the site, it cannot be modified.

PRIZES

First Prize $600
Second Prize $400
Third Prize $200
Three $100 prizes for honorable mentions
$500 in prizes awarded to best photos

Entries will be judged by The Sacramento Press editorial and community outreach departments. All decisions will be final. Limit one prize per entrant. Winners will be announced on the site, Feb. 13, 2012.

Addendum: You must be 14 years of age or older to publish an article on The Sacramento Press and to enter the Journalism Open.

Congratulations to the Journalism Open winners!

2011-02-14T08:34:20Z

The results are in and we’re very excited to announce the winners of The Sacramento Press 2011 Journalism Open.

More than 50 community contributors accepted the challenge to commit acts of journalism. In January, 134 entries were submitted, many by writers who are new to The Sacramento Press.

Thank you to those of you who participated and those who helped spread the word about the contest.

There were three Sacramento Press judges who reviewed the entries and determined the winners: Casey Kirk, Recruitment Manager, Brandon Darnell, Copy Editor and Reporter, and Colleen Belcher, Managing Editor.

We were looking for stories with a minimum of two sources, stories that incorporated research and stories that kept us reading. Each winner could only win one prize. Click here to read the complete judging criteria.

Without further ado, the winners are:

Isaac Gonzalez, whose story, “A Towering Challenge,” won first place and $700.

Laura O’Brien, who wrote “Fave moms mag stops presses,” won second place and $500.

Corinna Fish, the third place winner of $200, wrote a two-part story titled “This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land: Looking Back at 50 Years of the Capitol Area Plan” on the Mandella Garden and the history of the Capitol Area Plan.

There were five $100 prizes, which were awarded to Eileen Wilson, who wrote about domestic violence and its lasting effects on children, Deb Belt, Mary Nares, Ron Nabity, who wrote about the heroes of the Red Cross and Brandy Tuzon. Click on each name to see the winning story by that author.

The $350 in photography prizes was divided into four amounts: three $100 prizes and one $50 prize.

The winners, in no particular order, are David Alvarez for his photo of the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival, Marc McLaughlin for his photo of the Professional Bull Riders show at Arco Arena, and Kati Garner for her photo of the Wells Fargo building in the fog. Steven Chea won an honorable mention for his photo of Deerhoof’s drummer playing a show at Harlow’s.

Click here to see the winning photos laid out side by side.

We asked the winners how they felt about winning the competition. Here are some of their responses.

Mary Nares, who wrote about the Crocker Art Museum’s new Education Center, said in an e-mail, “I'm amazed and honored to be selected. I was really impressed with the caliber of the submissions for the Open. I saw some great writing and photography, and the wide range of intriguing topics was inspiring.”

Marc McLaughlin said in an e-mail, “It is always an honor to be rewarded for the work you do. Being able to document our community through photos is something that I am thankful for.”

We were also curious to find out what each winner thought about citizen journalism.

Deb Belt, who wrote about an alley project in Boulevard Park and the controversy it created, said in an e-mail, “Citizen journalism is a new frontier and gives people the power to bring a story to light. It places responsibility in writers' hands to be accurate, fair and ethical and provides support for them. When citizen journalists meet this challenge, they forge new territory.”

Brandy Tuzon is the publisher of the Natomas Buzz and the author of the story on Natomas Unified School District’s fiscal crisis. She said in an e-mail, “I believe independent, citizen journalists are capable of providing some of the best local news coverage in the Sacramento region. We are not sitting at a desk in an office being assigned a beat to cover, instead we are living in the community and experiencing stories first-hand, as they happen.”

David Alvarez said in an e-mail about citizen journalism, “I think it's great. It's the voice of the people that can inspire, make you laugh, let you see life through other people's eyes, make you think or help get an important story to light. As a sole voice or as a voice for many in our community, citizen journalism has its place if nothing else to read another person's perspective.”

Thank you to everyone who entered. We enjoyed meeting new people, like Mama Cobb, hearing new insights, like what current students think about Sacramento High School, and discovering new places, (Firehouse 5), or history (stone sisters houses), and seeing Sacramento and its surrounding areas through many lenses (written or camera).

Today's the last day to enter the Journalism Open 2011

2011-01-31T21:06:14Z

The procrastination must come to an end. There are only hours left to enter The Sacramento Press Journalism Open 2011.

Entries must be published by 11:59 p.m. You must tag your article open2011.

There are hundreds of dollars in prizes waiting to be doled out to the winners. First place prize is $700, second place is $500 and there are cash prizes for photos, too!

If you would like to have your article copy edited, it must be sent to journalism@sacramentopress.com by 6 p.m. Any articles sent after 6 p.m. will have to be published without copy editing.

One last thing: there are three judges for this year's contest. One of the judges changed from what we announced at the Journalism Open Workshop. David Watts Barton will no longer be judging. The judges are Managing Editor Colleen Belcher, Copy Editor/Reporter Brandon Darnell and Recruiment Manager Casey Kirk.

Check out the splash page for any last minute questions. Below the page are all of the entries we've received so far for the contest.

The clock is ticking. Entries published after 11:59 p.m. will not be counted as part of the contest.

Winners will be announced Monday, Feb. 14 on our site.

Good luck!

Journalism Open 2011 workshop Q&A

2011-01-14T00:24:00Z

In case you missed the workshop Wednesday night, here are some of the answers to some of the questions asked and some tips shared by Sacramento Press Editor in Chief David Watts Barton and Managing Editor Colleen Belcher with community contributors about Journalism Open 2011 entries.

Q: Are quotes a must?
A: No, but as for some basic guidelines: They make your story stronger. The more you get people into your story, the more it helps – even if you’re doing an opinion piece, because the more sources you can point to, the better.

Q: Is there a limit to how long the story is?
A: The limit is how long it’s interesting. One thing to watch out for is when you talk to people who are good talkers. You can quote them at length, and your story can sometimes get away from you. There are a lot of ways a story can get away from you. Read it over and pick out unnecessary paragraphs.

Q: Is it OK to submit video?
A: We’re not well equipped for video, and the thing about words is that they’re super accessible. If you want to say, “Here’s my video and here’s what’s interesting about it,” then that might work. It also might work if you narrated the video.

Q: People are talking about doing heavy investigative stuff, but what about the lighter stuff? Like going to a concert or covering a butchering class?
A: Everything is fair game.

Q: What if you decide to write about something, but then you realize someone is already covering it?
A: That’s fine. It won’t count against you in any way. Each article will be judged separately. If you want to see if someone else is covering your topic, you can contact Casey (casey@sacramentopress.com), and she might know.

Q: Does it matter if it’s written in first, second or third person?
A: It depends on what you’re writing. First person can work, and people like reading first-person stories because they can identify with the writer. But it’s something you have to get good at, because otherwise it’s easy for every sentence to start with “I.” Use first person sparingly.

Q: Is there a cutoff for the copy editing?
A: Yes. 6 p.m. on Jan. 31 is the deadline for copy editing.

Q: What about tags?
A: The most important tag for you guys is “Open2011.” You will need to add this tag to your story in order to have it recognized as entered in the Journalism Open 2011.

Q: How do you choose a good headline?
A: Headlines need to be short. Try to limit yourself to five words, and use words that are pretty identifiable. If you’re writing about a particular person or business, try to put that in the headline. It may not seem super creative, but just getting the basic information is fine.

Tips for brainstorming, writing, editing and entering your article and/or photos:

No story is too small. You’ll do better and have a better story if you keep it small. Really try to localize it.
Try writing about a topic you’re interested in, and not necessarily one in which you’re already an expert.
If you’re trying too hard to make a story work, maybe you need to reframe it.
One way to find a good story is when you read something and it makes you ask a question.
If you see an article on our site and you want to respond or tell your side, that’s a good way to find a topic, too.
For the basic structure of your article: First, you want to entice the reader. Then it should be apparent why he or she should care about it. You have to give people a reason to keep reading.
Before you send it to us, let a friend or family member read over it. Ask them what they think, what parts they would cut, etc.
A picture is worth a thousand words. But if you have a photo and 200 words underneath the photo, it’s going to explain it a lot better and make it much more interesting.
Take 25 photos and pick three.
You want something visual that’s going to get people’s attention.
Photos of people are generally the most interesting. Getting pictures of people doing things is really good.
If you have a friend who’s a photographer who doesn’t like to write, then he or she can add photos to your article and enter the photos in the competition and that will count for an entry for the photographer as well.

If you’re stumped on a story and need feedback or help with what direction to take it, you can contact Colleen by emailing her at colleen@sacramentopress.com

Sacramento Press Journalism Open returns in January 2011

2010-12-13T05:19:05Z

The first Sacramento Press Journalism Open was a success, and we’re ready to do it all over again! We will have some exciting prizes for our top submissions, and your stories could be chosen for our section pages or newsletter for thousands to read and enjoy.

Becoming a published writer is easier than you think, and we’re here to walk you through the process and get you committing acts of journalism.

I'm David Watts Barton, editor in chief of The Sacramento Press, our area's top hyper-local news website, where we focus on up-close, in-depth coverage of neighborhoods like yours. We aim to spread the traditional habits of good journalism – accuracy, fairness and a diversity of opinion – across the Web. We do it with a mix of professional and amateur writing from around the community.

We're hosting this contest because we want you to join us. The future of journalism may depend on you. Your ideas, your questions and the answers you find will increase the amount of good, local information you and your fellow citizens need to make informed decisions, whether it's about city government or where to go for entertainment. And once you've asked the questions you want answered, we want you to write for The Sacramento Press – because citizens like you are The Sacramento Press!

This contest is a pro-am, where writers of all skill levels and points of view – writers like you – are welcome to write about what interests you.

No story is too small for The Sacramento Press. Do you have a business you love, a community volunteer you admire, a trend that disturbs you, people who give you hope, city employees who drive you crazy? What don’t you understand about City Hall? What do people need to know about your neighborhood? What’s old and admirable? What’s changing?

Any of those questions could lead you to people you don’t know as well as you’d thought, or introduce you to people you didn’t know. And you can share that new-found knowledge with your fellow citizens.

That’s where The Sacramento Press comes in: In addition to providing the platform to publish, we also offer free copy editing and workshops on various aspects of journalism, from interview techniques to photography to ethics. We will do everything we can to help you create the best journalism you can.

And we have cash prizes!

For more on that and on how to enter your work in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open, read on!

To start writing, simply go to the top of this page and click the "Sign Up" button and follow the prompts. You will be asked for information and to sign off on our terms of use agreement. After you are signed up, click the "Write" button at the top of the page and start writing.

We suggest that you write your story in a separate writing application and then, when you've finished and had it copy edited, cut and paste it into our site.

To utilize our free copy editing, simply e-mail your story to journalism@sacramentopress.com, and we'll send the edited version back to you within 24 hours.

For specific questions, you can contact our customer service expert, Casey Kirk at casey@sacramentopress.com. She can help you along in the process.

Important: Every story you enter/post on the site must be tagged "Open2011" in the tag section. Just write those words in the space provided. You should also feel free to add tags to you story in the space provided, especially choosing one of our “section” tags – Culture, Business, Politics and Sports – depending on which one fits the story best.

Hit "Publish," and you have posted your first story on The Sacramento Press. You've also been entered in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!

CATEGORIES & CRITERIA FOR JUDGING

Entries will be judged by our editorial staff, and that judgment will be subjective. But we will be using criteria for what we think good journalism is. Among those criteria are:

Accuracy: Facts, spelling and quotes should be correct. Double-check everything and use your computer’s spell check.
Writing style: Writing should be clear, concise and enjoyable.
Local focus: Stories should be set in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer or El Dorado counties.
Sourcing: Include a minimum of two living, breathing sources in your story. Quotes from people who know what you’re writing about will always enliven and improve your story. Aim to include different perspectives. Wikipedia, About.com, press releases and book or newspaper excerpts are not acceptable sources.
Impact: Your story will also be judged on how readers react in the conversation on The Sacramento Press, as well as how it is received in the real world.
Mostly though, we’ll judge entries based on how interesting they are, if they’re news or a new approach to an old story, how well-researched they are, the quality of the writing and the quotes.

Stories can be any length, but they must be original nonfiction about the Sacramento area.

Stories may not be re-posts from blogs or other publications, print or online.

Finally, we will give extra weight to high-quality photographs, either accompanying stories or standing on their own with explanatory captions.

RULES

To be eligible, stories must be posted on the site, by you (using your real name), between 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2011 and 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2011. We will be able to help you post either over the phone or in our office during our normal business hours (10 a.m. through 6 p.m. Monday through Friday).

You may enter as many different stories as you like, but please enter/post each story only once! Make sure to tag it "Open2011" in the tag section or it will not be counted as a submission. There is no charge to enter.

PRIZES

First Prize $700
Second Prize $500
Third Prize $200
Five $100 prizes
$350 in prizes awarded to best photos

Entries will be judged by The Sacramento Press editorial department. Decisions will be final. Limit one prize per applicant. Winners will be announced Feb. 14, 2011.

There will be a workshop from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 12 at The Sacramento Press office to answer your questions. Be careful that you're happy with what you've written; once it is published on the site, it cannot be modified.

You must live or work in one of our four home counties listed above, and be at least 18 years of age. High school students under the age of 18 can enter if they have a parental consent form.*

*Parental consent forms must be signed in person by a parent or legal guardian of the minor entering an article. To arrange for this, please e-mail Casey Kirk, casey@sacramentopress.com.

Editorial Note: The rules have been changed to allow for people who work (not just who live) in one of the four counties we cover (Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer) to enter the contest.

Our new navigation bar

2009-09-30T21:38:11Z

One of our goals here at Sacramento Press is to make our content as accessible as possible - and to do that, we've chosen a look very similar to a traditional newspaper. We've even tried to recreate the newspaper's division into sections - sports, politics, culture, etc.

Those sections show up on the green bar that runs across the top of the Front Page of the Sacramento Press. We call it the "navigation bar," and it is designed to get you easily to the stories you want to read. To do that, we've listed our "sections" in the nav bar, one click of which will take you to a new page, laid out like the Front Page.

But we may have gotten a bit ahead of ourselves. Although our content is growing nearly as strongly as the numbers of readers we have coming to the site, we still don't often have enough content to fill up the "splash pages" that those names promise. If you click on Sports, for instance, you are more likely to get a list of all the stories that have been tagged Sports by either writers or readers.

Which is fine - you can see all our recent stories on any subject - but our goal is to have every "section" under the nav bar come up as a new laid-out page. We want you to go deeper into the site, beyond the Front Page. But to do that, there needs to be more laid out. And we're getting there, but we're not there yet.

Our hope is that very soon - perhaps this month, as The Sacramento Press Pro-Am Journalism Open begins on Thursday (Oct. 1) - we will have so many stories, written by so many members of the community, that we will have to start laying out new section pages for all manner of subjects. It really comes down to what you, our readers, decide to contribute.

In the meantime, you can still search the site by tags that reflect your interest, whether it be sports or music or city services. Just enter the tag in the search field at the right side of the nav bar, and in addition to the search results, you will get a list of all the stories we have published that were tagged with that subject.

But we've decided that as we want our look to mirror our content as much as possible, and to keep things simple and streamlined. To that end, we've taken down three of the "section" titles in the nav bar that we rarely lay out: Crime, Sports and People. We will still cover these subjects, but won't be laying out pages dedicated to them in the near future.

One of the first additions to the nav bar is a section about the Journalism Open, Open 2009. Over the coming month we will continue to lay out new contributions from citizen journalists as the contest unfolds, as well as updates from Sacramento Press editorial staff.

We will also take advantage of the flexiblity of the nav bar to put up special sections that will lead you to a page display of stories on a particular subject, mirroring our Storyline feature. This is the Web, and flexibilty is a given; we want to make sure that there's also a sense of solidity to the site as well.

I've laid out a section on the stories we've run recently on Sacramento County's ongoing budget crisis. Reporter Kathleen Haley has, just by herself, written more than two dozen stories on the subject in the last few months. We will feature just a handful here, so know that even a whole page devoted to a subject is just the tip of the iceberg. We plan to go deep into the subjects we cover.

To see these nav bar changes, you must log out and log back in, or if you're not a logged in user of our site, just refresh the page.

So keep an eye out in coming days and weeks for new featured "sections" in the nav bar. Because as with all of The Sacramento Press, you never know what you might find there.

Welcome to The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!

2009-09-16T00:14:43Z

We're so glad you're interested in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open! Not only can you win some great prizes, you can also have an effect on your community and gain some skills in the bargain! Contributing to our site is quick and easy - we can show you everything you need to know to take the act of making journalism into your own hands!

I'm David Watts Barton, the managing editor of The Sacramento Press, our area's top hyper-local, citizen-written news website, where we focus on up-close, in-depth coverage of neighborhoods like yours. We aim to spread the traditional habits of good journalism - accuracy, fairness and a diversity of opinion - across the Web. We do it with a mix of professional and amateur writing from around the community.

We're hosting this contest because we want you to join us! The future of journalism may depend on you: Your ideas, your questions, and the answers you find will increase the amount of good, local information you and your fellow citizens need to make informed decisions, whether it's about city government or where to go for entertainment. And once you've asked the questions you want answered, we want you to write for The Sacramento Press - because citizens like you are The Sacramento Press!

This contest is a pro-am, where writers of all skill levels and points of view are welcome to write about what you know and about what interests you.

We urge you to think small: The blighted vacant lot on your street, the business person you patronize, the leader you admire, the trend you abhor, the community group you support, the artist living above you, the band rehearsing next door. What don't you understand about your neighborhood? What's great about it? What's changing? These questions will lead you to more questions, questions will lead you to people you don't know, and people will lead you to stories that need to be told.

We're here to help: In addition to providing the platform to publish, we also offer copy editing and workshops on various aspects of journalism, from interview techniques to the use of social media. We will do everything we can to help you create the best journalism you can!

And don't forget the prizes! For more on that and on how to enter your work in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open, read on!

Join us in the first Sacramento Press Journalism Open. And remember, we are here to help you commit the best acts of journalism you can! Contact us at The Sacramento Press: To utilize our free copy editing, simply e-mail your story to journalism@sacramentopress.com and we'll send the edited version back to you. Colleen Belcher, journalism support manager, is at colleen@sacramentopress.com. Managing editor David Watts Barton is at david@sacramentopress.com.

Prizes

Journalism as a profession has taken its lumps lately, but there's still money to be made, especially if you win one of the many prizes offered in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!

Our Grand Prize winner will enjoy a weekend for two at The Village at Squaw Valley and a meal for two at world famous PlumpJack restaurant. We'll even throw in $50 for gas money!

Our contest's first-place winner will get $500 and an original portrait of themselves by Wall Street Journal sketch artist Noli Novak; second place receives $250 and third through fifth places, $100.

All winners, including the 10 additional winners in the more specific categories below, will win a Sacramento Press journalism kit that includes an Olympus digital recorder, a bio-degradable pen, a reporter's notebook and a stylish Sacramento Press T-shirt.

Winners will be announced on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

How to Enter

Simply go to the top of this page and click the "Sign Up" button and follow the prompts. You will be asked for information and to sign off on our terms of use agreement. After you are signed up, click the "Write" button at the top of the page and start writing!

We suggest that you write your story in a separate writing application and then, when you've finished and had it copy edited, cut and paste it into our site.

We encourage you to take advantage of our free copy editing before you post your article. To get your story copy edited, e-mail it to journalism@sacramentopress.com.

Important: Every story you enter/post on the site must be tagged "Open2009" in the tag section. Just write those words in the space provided.

Hit "Publish" and you have posted your first story on The Sacramento Press. You've also been entered in The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!

Categories & Criteria for Judging

Entries will be judged by our editorial staff, and that judgment will be subjective. But we will be using criteria for what we think good journalism is. Among those criteria are:

Accuracy: Facts, spelling and quotes should be correct. Double-check everything and use your computer’s spell check.
Writing style: Writing should be clear, concise and enjoyable.
Local focus: Stories should be set in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer or El Dorado counties.
Sourcing: Include a minimum of two living, breathing sources in your story. Aim to include different perspectives. Wikipedia, about.com, press releases and book or newspaper excerpts are not acceptable sources.
Impact: Your story will also be judged on how readers react in the conversation on The Sacramento Press, as well as how it is received in the real world.

Stories can be any length, but they must be original non-fiction about the Sacramento area.

Stories may not be re-posts from blogs or other publications, print or online.

Ten additional prizes will be awarded to stories that succeed in various areas, as judged by our staff of professional journalists:

Best lede (opening paragraph)
Most original story idea
Best-researched article
Best "get" (unusual story or difficult-to-get interview)
Most widely read story
Most community interaction (in conversation section)
Best headline
Best quote
Best use of the Storyline feature
Best accompanying photos

All entries will be eligible for all these categories, as well as the top prizes.

Rules

To be eligible, stories must be posted on the site, by you, between 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2009 and 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2009. We will help you post from Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 at 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. until Friday, Oct. 30, 2009; you may come to our office during weekday business hours (M-F, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to post on our computers. You may enter as many different stories as you like, but please enter/post each story only once! Make sure to tag it "Open2009" in the tag section or it will not be counted as a submission. There is no charge to enter. We will shred and recycle any entries that come in on dead trees - we're an online newspaper! Again, you must post the story yourself.

Entries will be judged by The Sacramento Press' editorial department. Decisions will be final.

We want you to win! We offer copy editing and advice on reporting. There will be a workshop on Oct. 13 to help answer your questions. Be careful that you're happy with what you've written; once it is published on the site, it cannot be modified.

You must live in one of our four home counties, and be at least 18 years of age.