GroundReport Awards $1,000 to Italian Citizen Journalist
Rachel Sterne
May 17, 2007 International citizen journalism website GroundReport.com announced today the winner of its first monthly $1,000 competition. The grand prize went to Desi Zavatta Musolino of Italy, whose report garnered the highest number of unique views in April. Responding to the award, Ms. Musolino said, “it was simply amazing.”
For Ms. Musolino, a shop assistant who writes in her spare time, the award came as a shock. “I didn't imagine I could win, maybe also because I'm Italian,” said Ms. Musolino, who lives in Bologna, “but what a prize!”
Her article, titled “Naked tourist bathes into the Fountain of Trevi in Rome,” recounts how a Milanese woman disrobed and waded into the world-famous Trevi Fountain last month. Dozens of observers captured the scene.
Commenting on the article, GroundReport founder and CEO Rachel Sterne said “The story was a true example of citizen journalism—eyewitnesses documented a surprise event and spread the news. Even big news outlets can’t plan for the unexpected, and that’s where citizen journalists come in.”
GroundReport.com allows professional and citizen journalists to publish text, image and video reports to a global audience. GroundReport’s community members can also rate reports, build a personalized newsfeed, create a press portfolio and earn a share of the website’s advertising revenues.
In addition to the competition, GroundReport contributors earn a share of advertising revenues for their reports. GroundReport launched officially in March and is already home to a passionate, sophisticated community. “I'm proud of being part of the community of Ground Report,” said Desi Musolino, “I really trust in citizen journalism as the new way of [sharing] global information.” Ms. Musolino, who hopes to one day support herself as a freelance writer, added that the prize “money is a hand from heaven for me.”
Tags: Musolino , Trevi , Groundreport
