(San Francisco, CA) - YouthNoise, the Internet's first social network for young people wanting to create social change, thas announced its Citizen Journalist (CitiJo) contest, which encourages aspiring young journalists (ages 16-24) to contribute to its 2006 mid-term Congressional campaign coverage by submitting objective news articles and passionate commentaries related to the upcoming elections.

"With control of Congress at stake, YouthNoise wants to ensure that young people have the opportunity to examine the candidates and issues through news coverage written by their peers from a youth perspective," said YouthNoise CEO Ginger Thomson. "If it's on the ballot, we want young people writing about it for YouthNoise."

CitiJo's elections coverage has recently included an exclusive interview with Representative Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN), the 36 year-old Congressman running for election to the U.S. Senate, discussing in-depth examinations of issues such as gay marriage and education policy.

Entries in the news coverage category will be judged on clarity, organization, objectivity and depth of reporting. Opinion pieces will be judged on insight, strength of argument and whether they bring a fresh perspective to an issue. All submission must be written articles; however there is no limit on length. The opinion category will have two awards, one for an essay with a conservative perspective and one for an essay with a liberal perspective.

All submissions must be made by midnight on Election Day, November 7th, 2006. Winners will be announced on November 13th. Winners will have the chance to discuss journalism career paths and have their work evaluated by a number of prominent journalists such as Alix Freedman of The Wall Street Journal.

Teens interested in participating, and think they have what it takes to be a future Pulitzer Prize winning political reporter, can check out www.youthnoise.com/citijo_election.php for more information. Submission, or questions regarding the contest, should be e-mailed to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

The CitiJo: Election 2006 contest is part of an ongoing program that coincides with the YouthNoise "Don't Vote!" campaign; an initiative to inspire teens and young adults across the country to vote on November 7th by highlighting what might/could happen if they don't make it out to the polls. This multi-faceted campaign targets 18-24 year-olds who are eligible to vote but either have not registered or have no plans to go to the polls this year, and will rely heavily on word-of-mouth and donated Internet banner space on sites widely visited by teens and young adults, including MySpace.com, AOL.com, Alloy.com and Bolt.com, among others.

YouthNoise is the first youth-based social network for social change. YouthNoise is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, non-profit organization that brings young people ages 16-22 together to form a global network for sharing and converting their ideas into action to improve the world around them. Featuring 100% youth-generated content, www.youthnoise.com has registered more than 113,000 youth from all fifty states and more than 170 countries, and welcomes an average of 200,000 unique visitors per month. Originally founded in 2001 by Save the Children, YouthNoise later spun off in 2004 and is now based in San Francisco, CA.

Until next time!