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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

As there are many people in the same situation, there are also many solutions. 

For graduate students, there is usually some help through your university. University of Colorado Boulder graduate students can apply for on campus studios and 1, 2 or 3 bedroom apartments, offered a cheaper rate than average rates in Boulder.

On-campus graduate housing is limited though and you might get stuck on the waitlist forever. I was on it for four months and had no luck.

CU Boulder also provides information about off-campus housing while Naropa University has off-campus housing information and rental listings. Another option is the facebook group Boulder Creative Housing, mostly for shared housing, which is what many people fall back on in view of high rents.

While suburbs like Louisville, Lafayette and Gunbarrel are a bit cheaper, they have gone up so much in rent recently that they are also no longer budget friendly if you want your own place. So, anywhere in Boulder or surrounds, you’ll likely be looking at shared housing.

Public transport is decent and you’ll get an RTD pass through the university that allows you to travel free on RTD buses and trains, including to the airport. In summer you can also bike to university from some areas, but you don’t want to risk black ice on cold winter days.

Once you have a US rental history and a credit score and want your own place for under 1500/month (and not in graduate housing), Denver is your best bet. By car it takes about 40 mins depending where you live.

Buses from Denver Union Station to Boulder start running at around 6 a.m., take just under an hour and run every 15 mins during the day, and every half hour early mornings and evenings until midnight back to Denver. Here is the FF1 bus schedule.

The buses to Denver run more frequently and later than the 205 buses to Gunbarrel, which stop at 9 p.m, or to Lafayette and Louisville, although those areas have friendlier bus schedules with the last bus leaving from Boulder at around 11 p.m.

For living in Denver when using public transport, you’ll want to make sure that your new place has a good connection to Union to limit travel time. Popular search platforms are Zillow and Trulia. Plug in your budget and then check what suburbs work for you. And then prepare to go to a lot of apartment showings.