NewsTrust.net - Blog: Member Awards

We're pleased to announce the Member Award winners for December 2009!

Our monthly award program, which we announced in September, spotlights members of our community who make outstanding contributions to our cause (see our original blog post).

Award Winners
Here are our six award winners for December '09:

• Top Rated Reviewer - Fred Gatlin
Fred received high ratings from other members for his December reviews of stories from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and more. He's also earned a well-deserved 4.4. member level for his overall contributions to NewsTrust. Fred, thanks your great work over the years!

• Most Thorough Reviewer - George Watson
George, an editor at Wikinews and Wikipedia, regularly answered 20 questions or more in his reviews, and wrote thoughtful notes and comments for each of his reviews. George is also editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper in Grimsby, United Kingdom. Welcome aboard, George!

• Most Active Reviewer - Glenn LaBauve
Glenn wrote 41 story reviews in December, making him our most active reviewer that month (excluding previous winners). Glenn is from Texas, and brings a wealth of experience to his reviews, as a former war planner, newspaper production manager and accountant. Well done, Glenn!

• Top Rated Post - Subramanya Sastry
"Climategate" from FactCheck.org received a 4.4 rating from 11 reviews and was featured in our "Best of 2009" stories list. It was posted by web engineer Subbu Sastry, outside the scope of his duties for NewsTrust. Good call, Subbu!

• Trusted Member of the Month - Andre Heinemann
Andre, a medical doctor from Florida, has brought his valuable insights to more than a dozen stories since he joined NewsTrust last month -- and the NewsTrust community has welcomed him with high marks for his well-worded reviews. Thanks, Andre -- and welcome to NewsTrust!

• Editor of the Month - Walter Cox
From time to time, we give special awards to NewsTrust community editors or hosts who make exceptional contributions to our cause. Our first award in this category goes to Walter Cox from California, for his extensive participation in our Climate Change News Hunt, taking great care to insure that views from climate change skeptics were fairly represented. Thanks, Walter -- we really appreciate the thoroughness of your work and your commitment to NewsTrust!

As a small token of our appreciation, we're sending all award winners this NewsTrust mug:

Win a Member Award
 If you are a regular NewsTrust reviewer, you too could win one of our monthly awards (see our October and November winners).

Here are some of the ways you can qualify for a member award and increase your own member level:

• Review often
Our top rated reviewers review and post stories regularly and thoroughly. Try to review at least a couple times per week and answer as many questions as you can. To review stories on our site, click 'Review' next to any story title; a good place to start is our home page.

• Focus on the journalism
Here at NewsTrust, we try to rate stories based on the quality of the journalism, not whether we agree with the views presented in these stories. For tips on how to review on our site, check our review guide.

• Fill your profile
Take a moment to update your member profile, so other members can get to know you. The more you share about yourself, the higher your member level, and the more your ratings count. Be sure to add a picture if you can.

 How Member Awards Work
 At the end of each month, NewsTrust staff editors tally the results for each award and announce the winners in a blog post and email newsletter. Winners can only win one award per year. If they qualify for two awards in the same month, they're only awarded one prize.   NewsTrust staff editors and directors cannot not qualify for these awards. We will announce our January winners the week of February 1st.

We'd love to hear what you think of this community program, which we are extending for three months, through March 2010. Drop a comment here on the blog -- or email us directly at editors-at-newstrust-dot-net.

Support our Work
If you find our service useful, consider making a personal donation to NewsTrust. Your contribution will fund site improvements, new tools, community outreach, news literacy programs and much more. To see what we've accomplished together in 2009, check our Progress Report.

Please donate today, so we can continue to promote good journalism and bring you quality news and information. Our continued growth depends on you.