The Sam Adams Alliance has announced the second annual 'Sammies'. The Sammies is a contest recognizing bloggers, filmmakers, open records champions, and other government watchdogs committed to advancing individual and economic liberty. $40,000 in prizes - divided among nine different categories - are awarded to exceptional activists who live by American founding father Adams' notion that, "all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought." With individual prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, the Sammies seek to inspire more people to stand up for good government practices in their communities.

"It’s the only liberty-minded contest available, where you have the opportunity to win cold hard cash," said Emily Zanotti from the Sam Adams Alliance. "And if that weren't enough incentive winners also get a limited-edition smashingly handsome golden Sammy!"

You can enter as many categories as you wish (but you are only eligible to win one).

The categories and prizes include:

• Best Video: Produce a video about economic and/or individual liberty in relation to an issue at the state or local level. Video must be under 5 minutes and already be uploaded to YouTube: $5,000 cash prize.

 • Sunshine Award: Use your state's open records laws to uncover government corruption, waste or malfeasance. Hint: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is your best friend: $5,000 prize.

 • Tea Party Award: Organize a grassroots event that makes a strong political point - that initiates a public discussion, that earns media attention - on an important state or local issue. Something like Sam Adams at the Boston Tea Party: $5,000 cash prize.

 • Best State or Local-Level Blogger: Post regularly on a blog that covers issues such as government transparency, political corruption, property rights, etc., at the state or local level: $5,000 cash prize.

 • Modern-Day Sam Adams: Lead a state political effort and achieve a major victory for liberty: $10,000 cash prize.

Due to a recent generous donation, The Sam Adams Alliance has just announced four new additional Sammy categories:

• Wikiteer: an award for contributors to Sam wikis - Ballotpedia, Judgepedia, and Sunshine Review - given to the individual who has created and maintained the most accurate, comprehensive, and encyclopedic page or portal.

• Best Ballotpedia and Best Judgepedia Contributor: $1,000 cash prize each

• Best Sunshine Review Contributor: $1,000 cash prize

• Microblogger of the Year: An award for someone who has used a free social networking and micro-blogging platform such as Twitter to effectively influence and engage others in local and state politics. How do you measure microblogging? Level of influence, social engagement, and number of stories broken. $2,000 cash prize.

• Blogivist of the Year: an award for the most influential, consistent, and popular blogger using Blogivists. $2,500 cash prize.

• Voter Watchdog: an award going to an individual or group who has helped prevent voter fraud come November. $2,500 cash prize.

Contestants can nominate themselves or someone else but must do so by Monday, February 22, 2009 (George Washington’s birthday) by entering online.. All submissions may only include work began from August 1, 2007 to present. All entries must include a written explanation describing how the action was conceived and accomplished. For all video submissions, please upload your video to YouTube and send the video link in your e-mail. Non-video entries must include one descriptive picture to accompany the written explanation. Winners will be flown to Chicago to be showcased at the red-carpet Sammies winner reception in April of 2009.

For questions, please e-mail sammies@samadamsalliance.org and visit www.samadamsalliance.org.

-GIR-