Happy Sunshine Week!
This week, we all celebrate and shine a light on the importance of public records and open government. Transparency is critical to understanding how our public institutions function, and student journalists are often the only ones in their community regularly holding school and college administrators accountable.
The Student Press Law Center is here all year long to help students obtain needed records, but in honor of Sunshine Week, we are excited to announce the nominations for the Student Freedom of Information Award, as well as several terrific (and fun) resources.
FOI Award application is now open
We’re now accepting nominations for the Student Freedom of Information Awards, which recognize a student journalist or team of journalists each year for outstanding and tenacious use of public records in their reporting. The awards, sponsored by the Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, come with a $1,000 prize for the high school level and a $2,000 prize for the college level.
The inaugural awards in 2023 went to Riya Vyas of The Union at Milpitas (Calif.) High School and The Citizen at Laney College in California.
Nominations for the 2024 awards should be based on reporting that was published between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. eastern on May 31, 2024. Learn more and apply here.
New Kahoot game for FOI fun
In honor of Sunshine Week, SPLC created a new Kahoot “FOI Fun” quiz to expand your freedom of information knowledge. The quiz consists of 10 questions on the history of FOI and some interesting facts learned through FOI requests, such as the most popular dog name in Chicago and which athlete J. Edgar Hoover was sending fan mail. (Don’t forget, you can also test your knowledge on the law of FOI in our Access Law Quiz.)
For even more fun, check out Sunshine Week’s puzzles, games, Spotify playlist and more.
Public records training
SPLC’s Senior Legal Counsel Mike Hiestand is joining the Society of Professional Journalists this week to share tips and tricks for college student journalists to obtain public records. If you’re unfamiliar with FOI laws, need help submitting a records request or simply don’t know where to start, join us March 14 at 5:00 pm eastern.
Other public records resources
Whether you’d like a primer on how to submit a public records request or just some inspiration of records to request, we’ve got your back:
- Freedom of Information Primer and FAQs
- Ready-to-go FOI presentation for the classroom
- Public Records Letter Generator: Use this free tool to create a letter to request access to records held by a state or local government agency.
- FERPA Guide: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is often misused to block student journalists’ access to information. Learn more about the law.
- Student media guide to the Clery Act: The Act mandates that all colleges and universities that accept federal funding must provide some campus safety records.
- Ideas for high school records to request
- Guides on student government, college athletics, university foundations, faculty and public employee evaluations, campus crime and more
- And, of course, if you have questions, contact our free Legal Hotline to speak with an attorney
About Sunshine Week
Sunshine Week was created in 2002 to highlight the importance of access to public records and an open government. It always falls around March 16, James Madison’s birthday. Madison, the fourth U.S. president, was a proponent of the Bill of Rights and a defender of access to a transparent government.
Many organizations are celebrating Sunshine Week with virtual events on public records and access to government. The Week is coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.