Featured Projects | How it Works | Rules & Guidelines | Final Judging | FAQ 

The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) is pleased to announce the second annual FACT Social Justice Awards.  FACT is committed to addressing the fundamental inequalities and injustices in our society by helping develop and sustain networks of community-based groups in the U.S. and France that educate, organize, and empower people to actively participate in developing public policies that directly affect their lives.

Our Challenge theme this year is “Collaborate for Social Justice.”

We chose this theme because beneath all the new platforms, widgets, tools, social media, and innovative products lies the potential for people to collaborate in new ways with one another.

The FACT Challenge seeks to surface innovative Projects that leverage web and/or mobile technologies that foster collaboration around social justice issues.

Specific technologies could include, but are by no means limited to:

• Leveraging use of wikis
• Social networking platforms
• Citizen journalism and reporting
• SMS

How The FACT Challenge Works

1. Submissions Open.  Starting on August 23, 2010 at 12pm PST, FACT Social Justice Challenge Project Gallery will be open to begin receiving project submissions.  The challenge seeks to surface the development and use of collaboration technologies to benefit social justice work around the world.  

2. Submissions Close. On October 4, 2010 at 5pm PST, submission will close.

3. Community Vote.  On October 11, 2010 at 12pm PST, the FACT Social Justice Project Gallery will open for community voting. Voting closes on October 15, 2010 at 5 pm PST.  The top 15 Featured Projects will be announced on October 18, 2010.

4. Expert Vote.  After the NetSquared community voting closes, a panel of three expert judges, designated by FACT, will review the FACT Social Justice Award Featured Projects based on  their potential to address social justice issues. The judging criteria will serve as guidelines for the panel of judges who will determine the Top Five from the 15 Featured Projects.

5. Winners Announced.  Five Winners will be announced on October 22, 2010.

All FACT Social Justice Winners will receive a cash award of $5,000 each and recognition on the NetSquared and FACT web sites.  In addition to direct financial support through the FACT Social Justice Award, FACT is generously supporting fund development assistance for all FACT Featured Projects.  This assistance will connect winning Projects with fundraising experts and guidance to help them move towards increased investments and greater community impact.

Details regarding this assistance will be shared with the Featured Projects following the all-community vote.

>> For more information about Rules and Guidelines click here

>> For a list of Frequenty Asked Questions (FAQ) click here

>> For a list of FACT Challenge-related blog posts click here