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Learn Accountability Journalism Skills & Win Prizes

Get free access to FOIA tools, hands-on experience filing public records requests, and a chance to win journalism gear – including a wireless microphone.

How to Participate

• Optional Step: 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 a Society of Professional Journalists (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. Need ideas? Browse MuckRock’s database of request ideas for topics that interest you. You can swap out the agency for a local one or use the language as a starting point to investigate issues that matter to you, your community, and your audience.
• Step Two: Get the documents! This is the hard part, but here are resources to help: MuckRock’s FOIA 101 resources, our guides to each state’s laws, and RCFP’s open government guide. You can also hop into our FOIA chatroom to get feedback on request language, how to work around objections, or check out our FOIA 101 video on our YouTube channel.
• Step Three: Submit your request at this form. If you receive the documents, use the official entry form to share what you found in them! Submit the form even if your request was rejected – the most egregious rejections are also eligible. One request each month that helped dislodge important documents or showcases ridiculous agency obfuscation wins.

Each monthly winner receives:

• Clip Wireless Microphone
• SPJ Coffee Tumbler
• Laptop Bag
• Smartphone Gimbal/Tripod
• SPJ Sweatshirt
• SPJ stickers

This ongoing contest for student journalists is a collaboration between the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) New England Pro Chapter, MuckRock and the New England First Amendment Coalition. Source: https://www.muckrock.com/spj-contest/

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Internships

• Sports Broadcasting: Internship roles with The Carolina Panthers, FC Charlotte, and events related to the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.

https://www.teamworkonline.com/multiple-properties/tepper-sports-entertainment-jobs/tepper-sports-jobs

• Summer Internships with PBS North Carolina

https://www.pbsnc.org/careers/internships

• Spring and Fall internships with NPR

On-site and remote. Monitor regularly and set up an email alert, as applications close within 14 days of a role being posted.

https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/nationalpublicradioinc

More information and application resources: https://www.npr.org/about-npr/181881227/want-to-be-an-npr-intern

• Groove – coworking for freelancers pursuing various projects, in groups of 2-4 people. Free.
• CoFocus – one-to-one sessions with another member, fixed 50 min periods. Any time and day depending on availability of other members, but there are a lot of them. Accountability is higher because you have only one other member waiting for you. However, if someone cancels last minute, you may end up on your own during a work session, meaning predictability is lower. Members can elect preferences such as whether talk or chat online at start and end of session. Cameras are expected to be on. Free memberships allow you to book up to three sessions weekly, paid membership with unlimited sessions are $4.99/month or $49/year. No student discounts I could find.
• FocusMate – one-to-one sessions with another member, fixed 50 min periods. Accountability is higher because you have only one other member waiting for you. However, if someone cancels last minute, you may end up on your own during a work session, meaning predictability is lower. Up to three sessions a week included with a free membership. Paid memberships are $9.99/month or $84/year.
• Flown – groups with various lengths, themes and facilitators. Groups can be large and don’t run simultaneously, meaning each time slow has only one option. Normal price $25/month or $228/year, student discount is 50%.
• Deepwrk – group sessions with facilitators. All sessions one hour, no simultaneous sessions and limited sessions on weekends. No chat-only sessions. Normal price $19/month or $144/annually. No student discount I could find.
• Caveday – group sessions with a facilitator. Sessions have different lengths, with fewer sessions on weekends. No late arrivals, sessions lock after 10 mins. Different tiers from $9.99/month (three sessions a week), $35/month (unlimited sessions) to $366/months (includes private coaching for, well, I guess people who are not students). Student discounts available.
• Focus Sessions – 90-minute, silent group co-working sessions Monday to Friday, with limited sessions Friday and no sessions on the weekend. Starts at $47/month or $497/year, and costs double that if you want perks such as monthly planning workshops, coaching, and productivity challenges.

2. Mindmapping is an organizational tool that’s particularly useful for projects or tasks that seem too complicated. It helps break projects down into visual steps, link ideas, and understand what needs to get done. Works for anything from research projects to weekly or daily planning.

You can do the pen and paper approach, or for more flexibility there are the below online versions. I have not ordered these by price. Again, I would try whatever resource you can for free and then see if a paid one is worth it for you. If you can make FreeMind work, it’s no cost. My computer’s operating system didn’t like it but it sounded good.

Ayoya
Coggle
Freemind
LucidChart
MindMapping
Mindmeister
MindNode (Mac)
Miro
SimpleMind
Xmind
Some mindmapping tools include or can integrate with separate task managers, where you can tick off tasks you identified in a mindmap. For instance MindNode integrates with the task management tool Things.