George Hotelling Named First Annual Winner of the New $10,000 Pizzigati Prize 

San Francisco, CA, September 25, 2006 — Tides Foundation today announced that the inaugural $10,000 Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest will go to George Hotelling for his development work on CitizenSpeak — a free email advocacy service for grassroots organizations.  

The Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest has selected six exciting dewelopers and products that are being considered as finalists for its inaugural prize.  The final prize recommendation will be made by an advisory panel but we would also like to hear from you.  We would like to invite you to share your impressions of the products, their usability, elegance and relevance.  The finalist developers and products are:

• George Hotelling, Citizen Speak
• Donald Lobo, CiviCRM
• Jamie McClelland, Basebuilder
• Ethan McCutchen, WagN
• Zack Rosen, Civic Space
• Kevin Smith, The Martus Project

If you are familiar with these products or would like to take some time and explore them a bit and share your insights with the Prize Advisory Panel, we welcome your feedback.  This is the first year of the Pizzigati Prize and we need your guidance as we select a prize recipient who has created an elegant and usable tool, had a practical impact on the effectiveness and capacity of nonprofit organizations, and also has promoted an ethic of collaboration and sharing.  You can find more about the Prize and the finalist products, and share your thoughts at http://forums.pizzigatiprize.org/index.php#5.