MAPLight.org Chosen as Finalist for Prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award
August 4, 2008 - MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization illuminating the connection between money and politics, is honored to announce that it has been chosen as a finalist for the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award. The award, designed to inspire and challenge information and technology industries to develop solutions to reduce social and economic disadvantages, is sponsored by the Royal Institute of Technology and was launched by the city of Stockholm 14 years ago.
“It is such a great honor to be recognized by such an esteemed organization,” said Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPLight.org. “This honor reflects the worldwide interest in government transparency and preventing corruption, and highlights how campaign dollars can prevent democracies from solving problems effectively.”
"The standard of the projects in the Stockholm Challenge Award this year is better than ever,” says project managerUlla Skidén and adds: "the criteria for participation have been set to a higher level compared to earlier years. Participants needed to more clearly demonstrate social impacts and sustainability with their projects in 2008. This resulted in 145 exceptional projects from more than 50 countries."
MAPLight.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides unprecedented government transparency, shining a light on our broken system of money-dominated politics. We track all campaign contributions given to members of Congress, and how every member of Congress votes on every bill, revealing connections between money and politics never before possible to see.
MAPLight.org’s research department uses Web 2.0 data mashup technology to combine three data sets: campaign contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org) and National Institute on Money in State Politics, special interest support and opposition for each bill in Congress (MAPLight.org research team), and legislative voting records and bill information (THOMAS/GovTrack.us).
The winning project in each category will be announced on May 22, in the Blue Hall, venue of the Nobel Banquet, and will receive the Challenge Trophy and a check of 5.000 Euros. For more about the Stockholm Challenge please visit: Stockholm Challenge Award.