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Stites wins We Media Game Changer award

Posted by on Feb 4, 2010 in Game Changers 2010, We Media Miami 2010 | 16 comments

Congratulations to journalism and democracy visionary Tom Stites, the winner of the 2010 We Media Game Changer Community Choice award. Stites will participate and speak at the We Media Miami conference, March 9-11. He’ll be recognized with a group of honorees selected by We Media judges as Game Changers: People, projects, ideas and organizations leading change and inspiring a better world through media.

We’ll announce the other winners soon.

Stites, 67, a former reporter and editor for the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and other publications, and a 2006 Resident Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, was selected by public online voting conducted by We Media Jan. 25 – Feb. 3, 2010.

A journalist and entrepreneur with a passion for democracy, Stites, who lives in Newburyport, Mass., was nominated for his vision to change the game of journalism. He’s founder and president of the Banyan Project, which aims to strengthen democracy through the Web by using techniques that serve, engage and give voice to “less-than-affluent” everyday citizens. We’ll hear more about the vision and project at We Media Miami, and report more on it for the wider We Media community. Stites discussed the ideas behind the project in a 2006 speech, which you can read here.

We’ll recognize all finalist and hope to see many of them at We Media Miami. You can register for the conference here – and check out all of the finalists here.

A note on the Community Choice voting: More than 9,000 votes were cast. We encountered and resolved some voting “irregularities” with one nominee, including a flood of automated, repeated votes for that nominee. Those votes were tracked by our poll logs and were eliminated to determine the the final choice.

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Andrew Nachison

Andrew Nachison

Andrew is co-founder of We Media and of iFOCOS, a media think tank and futures lab. Find him on LinkedIn.

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  • Martin Voelker

    Congratulations, Tom, and well deserved. Your project really could be a game changer. It also coincides with the release of Apple’s iPad which may breathe new life into news”paper” publishing.
    Best of luck, and I’ll make sure to watch your speech.

  • Jennifer Forker

    I am so glad Tom Stites, and by association the Banyan Project, won this. I’m relieved the award went to such a noble cause. Congratulations, Tom!

  • http://www.poclad.org Mary Zepernick

    Roses to Tom Stites and to WeMedia! This is not only a win for Tom but for democracy – all the more welcome and needed as the struggle is joined to challenge the recent Supreme Court decision AND corporate personhood.

  • Greg FItzgerald

    TOM: WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!! Now the real work…and fun… begins!

  • Sara Mellen

    Yee Haw! I’m having a martini tonight in your honor!

  • http://www.2young2retire.com Marika Stone

    Congratulations, Tom!! We were with you all the way, and breathlessly excited as each day passed. Can’t wait to see you guys and celebrate.

  • hafidha sofia

    Great news!

  • http://zmeu.net/blog RADU

    CONTEST WAS FAKE CHEATERS

  • Martin Voelker

    Radu,
    we’re all aware that online polls are a somewhat questionable instrument for selecting a winner and that there are vulnerabilities. However, it sounded like the organizers were able to identify breaches and deal with them. It didn’t sound like any of the misuse was attributed to fans of the winner.
    On the other hand, if you want to be a game changer it is a good sign if you can mobilize a large number of people to vote for your project on short notice.

  • Collin

    Seems more like inept work on the poll side of things more then anything.

  • Eunice Benton

    Just FABULOUS news! So many folks with whom I shared information about the Banyan Project are now fascinated by it — and some would like to work with it! Just terrific news for so many reasons!

  • http://www.infegy.com Adam Coomes

    Congratulations Tom. Though we had won the poll, there was a claim that we had obtained some automated votes, which was certainly beyond our knowledge and doing and just goes to show the level of passion from our supporters. This was disheartening for us, as we had countless legitimate voters who worked hard reaching out to others to help us obtain as many votes as we did. Many thanks to everyone who believe in us and our innovation.

    We understand why the decision was made and are 100% in support of Tom and his initiatives and are happy he is accepting this award.

  • http://www.banyanproject.com Tom Stites

    Adam — Thanks for your generous support, and for your spirited competition through passionate supporters. I wish you and your supporters the very best.

  • Sandra Thaxter

    Tom, This is wonderful. Guess the fans really went to the bat for you. So wonderful, congratulations yeh yeh yeh!

  • http://ariwriter.com Ari Herzog

    Nice to see a Newburyport resident win such an award. Well done! Thanks to all who voted!

    - Newburyport City Councilor Ari Herzog

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