Nominations being sought for open-government award

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2010 Max Dalton Open Government Award sponsored by the Idaho Newspaper Foundation.

The 2010 award will be the 12th annual award given to each year since 1999 to a citizen or group judged to be an outspoken advocate of openness in either public records or public meetings on the state or local level.

Nominations should be submitted by March 12 by sending a letter of nomination to starnews@frontier.com.

The letter should provide a general description of the nominee's dedication to open government and cite specific examples of the nominee's use of the Idaho Open Meeting Law or the Idaho Public Records Law to advance the public interest. Examples can include links to newspaper articles or testimonials from citizens or public officials.

The Max Dalton Open Government Award has frequently been awarded in the past to citizen activists. However, activism by itself is not sufficient to receive the award, INF Executive Director Tom Grote said.

Nominees must have demonstrated their use of the state's open meetings or open records laws in support of their activism, said Grote, who is also publisher of The Star-News in McCall.

Go to www.idnewsfound.org for more information and profiles of previous winners.