The Sacramento Press Announces Citizen Journalist Contest

Hyper-local website fosters excellence and relevance in community news
coverage

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sacramento Press
(www.sacramentopress.com) kicked off its very first 'pro-am' contest, The
Sacramento Press Journalism Open, on Oct. 1. Participants of all skill levels,
backgrounds and points of view can write about any local topic related to
their community. The contest runs through Oct. 31, 2009.

"The future of local journalism depends on individual citizens," said David
Watts Barton, the managing editor of The Sacramento Press. "We are launching
this contest to help ensure that quality news coverage on The Sacramento Press
continues to grow, and our local community members have a place to tell their
story."

The Sacramento Press has created an interactive platform that lets people tell
and discuss issues affecting their neighborhoods. Community news and stories
of ongoing importance are often missed or ignored by large print newspapers
and TV stations. The Sacramento Press is where these stories thrive.

-- The grand prize winner will enjoy a weekend for two at The Village at
Squaw Valley, including a meal for two at the PlumpJack restaurant and
$50 for gas.
-- The first place winner will receive $500 and an original portrait by
Wall Street Journal sketch artist, Noli Novak.
-- The second place winner will receive $250. Third, fourth and fifth
place
winners will receive $100 each.
-- Ten additional prizes will be awarded for best lede (opening
paragraph),
most original story idea, best-researched article, best headline, best
quote, most widely read story, best accompanying photos, best use of
the Storyline, best "get" (unusual story or difficult-to-get
interview)
and most community interaction (in comment section).

-- All winners will receive a Sacramento Press journalism kit comprised
of
an Olympus digital recorder, a bio-degradable pen, a reporter's
notebook
and a Sacramento Press T-shirt.

Entries will be judged by The Sacramento Press editorial team, and winners
will be announced on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

For more information, including the full contest rules, please visit:
www.sacramentopress.com/open

About The Sacramento Press
The Sacramento Press is a hyper-local website, focusing on up-close, in-depth
coverage of neighborhoods like yours. With a mix of professional and amateur
writing, The Sacramento Press aims to spread traditional habits of good
journalism -- accuracy, fairness, diversity of opinion, entertainment value,
and a desire to improve our communities -- across the evolving new medium of
the Web. As the proud recipient of the 2009 Online News Association (ONA) "6
in 60" demo-style pitch competition, The Sacramento Press continues to put
citizen journalism on the map.

SOURCE The Sacramento Press

Cheryl Cink, +1-530-756-4630, ccink@comunicano.com, for The Sacramento Press