Here are a few of the more interesting media mentions of Sunlight and our friends and grantees from this week:

Various media outlets and bloggers, including the likes of CNET.com, the Associated Press, the National Journal, Lawrence Lessig and Craig Newmark, have covered and congratulated the Center for Responsive Politics' (CRP) for making its data records from OpenSecrets.org free for anyone to download. The Journal's "Tech Daily Dose" column reported that more than 120 people had downloaded bulk data within the first 24 hours of CRP opening up its archives.

The Washington Post's "The Reliable Source" column highlighted Capitol Words, which "slices and dices the entirety of the Congressional Record for your searching pleasure," they write. McClatchy's David Lightman reported that, in light of the financial crisis, words you would expect to be used by congressional lawmakers often, such as recession, bailout, stimulus and deficit do not crack the top 30 most frequently uttered terms so far this year. And Daphne Ritter with the New York Post looks at the top words used by several lawmakers from the Empire State's congressional delegation.

Alice Lipowicz with Federal Computer Week used OpenCongress data in writing about how only 10 congressional lawmakers (four senators and six reps) post their daily schedules on their official Web sites. New York Newsday editorialized about how Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) is blazing a trail in her congressional career by posting her schedule and personal financial disclosure reports online. "While (congressional lawmakers are) at it, they should make sure that information is easy to locate, archived and searchable, so that watchful voters can track, over time, the lobbyists and interest groups bending an official's ear," the editors wrote.

Last week, Ryan Singel at Wired's "Epicenter" blog wrote about Sunlight Labs' contest Apps for America, and asked his readers to vote for their favorites. This week, he reported back on the response he received, and issued what he terms the "Epicenter Reader's Choice award."

Speaking of Sunlight Labs, both Craig Newmark on his blog and Andrew Pratt at Science Progress praised the Labs' pre-design for the yet-to-be-launched Data.gov, the site that new White House CIO Vivek Kundra has promised will be an easy-to-use central repository of federal bulk data. "This is precisely the kind of work I've argued that the nonprofit and advocacy sphere needs to be engaged in right now," Pratt wrote.

The San Francisco Examiner editorialized about how Congress should exercise its oversight authority and find out where every last federal bailout dollar has been spent. The Examiner gives props to Anu Narayanswamy's Real Time Investigations expose' of the identity of senior U.S. Treasury officials who are also members of the Troubled Assets Relief Program's Investment Committee -- a small group that makes big decisions about which banks receive how much of our money.

The Washington Independent's Elana Schor reports on an analysis they conducted of House and Senate fundraising during the current election cycle compared to the previous cycles. Despite the economic downturn, their analysis showed significant upticks in campaign giving. Schor quotes Bill Allison, Sunlight's senior fellow, "For the average citizen, the election is over and they're not even going to think about it for the next four years." But the donors "who are paying close attention," have a vested interest in what Congress does -- or does not -- pass into law this year.

Thanks, and see you next week!

On Tuesday, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 13th annual the Webby Awards, "the Oscars of the Internet." The academy selects the nominees and winners of what has been termed “the Internet’s highest honor.” And like in past years, a number of Sunlight's friends and grantees received nominations. I know that in naming a few I will miss others. Sorry if I didn't catch all our friends!

The Center for Responsive Politics’ newly redesigned OpenSecrets.org received a nomination in the category of best politics site of 2009. If they were to win, it would be their fifth Webby. The academy nominated Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s (CREW) site GovernmentDocs.org, which allows users to easily brouse and search FOIA documents, has been nominated for a Webby in the “Government” category.  (Sunlight has funded both those projects.) In the “Activism” category, Why Tuesday? received a nomination.

In the “Online Film and Video” section’s “News and Politics: Individual Episode” category, American News Project, founded and run by my friend and former colleague Nick Penniman, received a nomination for their investigation titled “Iraq and Drop Weapons.”

The academy decides who the winners will be, but the "People's Voice" Webby Award is decided by people who go to their site and vote. So, from now till the end of this month, each of us can cast a ballot for the "People's Voice" award. You can find your own “People’s Voice” ballot here. Lawrence Lessig said OpenSecrets gets his vote.

Congrats to all the nominees!

Our friend Carl Malamud, president and CEO of PublicResource.Org, which works for the publication of public domain information from local, state, and federal government agencies, has embarked on a new campaign. He’s “running” for the position of Public Printer of the United States, the head of the Government Printing Office (GPO).  Sounds novel, eh, but Carl’s campaign, Yes We Scan, is inspired by Augustus E. Giegengack, a working printer who ran a successful campaign to convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to appoint him as head of the GPO back in 1933. Carl hopes to similarly convince President Obama to appoint him as the public printer. “If I were given the honor to be nominated by the President and the further honor to be confirmed by the Senate, my platform for revitalizing the GPO and rebooting .gov is spelled out in a detailed series of policy papers.”

Those five suggestions for change are: 1.    Rebooting .Gov. How the Government Printing Office can spearhead a revolution in governmental affairs. 2.    FedFlix. Government videos are an essential national resource for vocational and safety training and can also help form a public domain stock footage library, a common resource for the YouTube and remix era. 3.    The Library of the U.S.A. A book series and public works job program to create an archival series of curated documents drawn from our cultural institutions, with full-quality masters of the books and research materials made available for other publishers to draw on.  The program would employ the GPO master printers and would recruit writers, archivists, artists, and other creative workers through a national call for participation. 4.    The United States Publishing Academy. GPO should expand current training programs such as the Institute for Federal Printing and combine them with current workforce development efforts to create a national academy similar to the National Mine Academy and the National Fire Academy, training its own workforce, the government, and the local schools in the art, craft, and science of publishing. 5.    The Rural Internetification Administration. Repurposing the Amateur Radio League, modifying spectrum policy, and injecting capital into rural coops can bring high-speed broadband to 98% of rural Americans just as the Rural Electrification Administration did for electricity in the last century. I am happy to “endorse” Carl’s campaign, along with the likes of Larry Lessig, Cory Doctorow, Tim Bray, Tim O’Reilly, Tim Wu among others. I encourage everyone to go to Yes We Scan and help out by endorsing him. No matter the outcome of his “campaign,” Carl hopes he can launch a long-term dialogue about the public domain and how the US presents itself to the world. Tim O’Brien at O'Reilly Media blogged about Carl’s campaign. Tim also interviewed Carl, which you can listen to here. Run, Carl! Run! Then Scan, Carl, Scan.