By Olivia Valyo, Center for Media Innovation

A competition at Newsapalooza this fall invites the public and professionals to pitch a story – and win money to report it. 

Winners will receive $1,000 to report their story relevant to Southwestern Pennsylvania and get help to publish it. There will be separate categories for journalists, students, and the public. 

Newsapalooza is happening Sept. 26-28 at Point Park University and at locations throughout Allegheny County to promote local news and the power of fact-based stories. 

The story must be reported in the third-person, based on research from objective, verifiable sources, and include interviews of varied perspectives. It should illuminate an issue relevant to Southwestern Pennsylvania in a new way. 

Finalists will present live to a celebrity panel on Sept. 27 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Downtown. Then the audience will select the winning pitches. 

The deadline to apply is Aug. 15. 

Rules for the competition are as follows:

• Submit a brief written description of your idea along with a 60-second video that shows you describing your idea.  
• Submissions may come from an individual or team of people.  
• For the professional category, include examples of your work.  
• Identify how you intend to share the finished product with the public (ie. through a traditional news partner, social media, your own website, etc.) and your intended format (ie. written words, video, audio, multimedia content, podcast, etc.). 
• The story idea must be presented in the third-person, based on objective, fact-based research, and must demonstrate an intention to involve multiple sources with varied perspectives.  
• The story should be relatable to an audience in southwestern Pennsylvania but might have its central focus and/or reporting outside of the region.  
• The story should involve two or more multimedia elements such as written words, photography, graphics, audio, video, etc. It may be presented via any journalistic format (print, podcast, broadcast TV/radio, etc.).  
• The story should demonstrate an enterprising approach to the news such as uncovering a novel story idea, hidden information, unheard voices, unexplored accountability, etc. 
• Preference will be given to stories that reach an underserved population and/or a news desert. 

For questions, contact Todd Franko at tfranko@pointpark.edu.

Tickets for Newsapalooza are available with an early bird discount if purchased by Sept. 1 through the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

For the Pittsburgh Pitch application form, visit https://www.nextgenerationnewsroom.org/news/newsapalooza-launches-the-pittsburgh-pitch-story-challenge

Olivia Valyo is the creative content editor for Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation.