history
The Sammies has a rich, albeit brief, history. In three short years, we’ve given out roughly $100,000 to leading free market activists. And, moreover, we’ve had do a great time doing it.
2009
The Sam Adams Alliance presented a total of $40,000 in cash prizes to winners on April 18, 2008 at the Marriott Renaissance North Shore in Northbrook, Illinois. Winners were flown to Chicago. Guest presenters included Michelle Malkin, Stephen Moore, John Fund, Jonathan Hoenig, Mary Katharine Ham, Joe Wurzelbacher, Vicki McKenna, and Paul Jacob.
The winners of the 2009 Sammies were:
Fred Baldwin, Seth Cooper, and John Wynne Jr. each won the Wikiteer Award and a $1000 prize for their thorough contributions to Ballotpedia, Judgepedia, and Sunshine Review–all wikis created by the Sam Adams Alliance.
Melissa Clouthier, of The Woodlands, Texas, won the Microblogger of the Year Award and the $2,000 prize for her use of social media in promoting liberty at the state and federal level.
Ruth Bendl, of Portland Oregon, won the Voter Watchdog Award and the $2,500 prize for her work in monitoring the 2008 election. In her efforts she identified 44 deceased Oregonian voters. She has been instrumental in getting the Vote-By-Mail state to enact new rules about how ballots are transported and counted.
Elizabeth Crum of Las Vegas, Nevada, won the $2,500 Blogivist of the Year Award for successfully embodying the “Say Something, Do Something” spirit of Blogivists.com. Having started blogging at E!! The True Conservative Story last June, in 10 short months she has received recognition from Politico, Instapundit, and National Review Online, as well as been published in Liberty-Watch, and featured on local news stations.
Chad Everson, of Princeton, Minnesota, won the $5,000 Best State Blogger Award for his efforts in building a network of over 150 bloggers and 16 radio personalities on GrizzlyGroundswell.com.
Caleb Brown and Austin Bragg, of Arlington, Virginia, won the Best Video Award and the $5,000 prize for theirresearch and analysis of Virginia’s asinine, anti-competitive—and unconstitutional—liquor laws.
James Bell, of Lithia Springs, Georgia, won the $5,000 Tea Party Award for his work in defeating two sales tax increases and proposing a bill, which in 2008 became Georgia law, restricting local government from holding tax votes on special elections.
William Carlin Walker, of Liberty, Missouri, won the $5,000 Sunshine Award for his work in exposing illegal retirement benefits and rampant credit card abuse by top administrators in the Liberty School District—including thousands on alcohol and parties—along with leading a successful petition drive that resulted in a state audit of the district. William’s whistle-blowing led to the resignation of two administrators, and the Missouri General Assembly has introduced four pieces of legislation in response to his investigative labor.
Ari Armstrong, of Westminster, Colorado, won the $10,000 Modern-Day Sam Adams Award for his relentless—and ubiquitous—defense of free markets and individual liberty in the state of Colorado. He is author ofFreeColorado.com and a columnist for the Grand Junction Free Press. In the last year, Ari’s work has been published in the Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post Online, and featured on numerous radio and television news programs.
2008
The winners of the 2008 Sammies were:
Melyssa Donaghy of Indianapolis won the $5,000 Tea Party award for staging numerous creative protests around the state in response to Indiana’s increasing property tax burden.
Sal Costello of Austin, Texas won the $5,000 Best Short Satire Film award for his animation highlighting the “double taxation” associated with Austin’s highway toll rates.
Leon Drolet of Macomb, Mich. won the $5,000 Best Short Documentary award for his video footage of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance spreading the word about State Representative Marc Couriveau’s 3,000 percent tax increase on local garbage disposal.
Stefan Sharkansky of Seattle won the $5,000 Sunshine award for his work investigating the government with Washington’s Public Records Act and exposing cases of government waste, incompetence, and malfeasance on his blog, Sound Politics.
Ben Cunningham of Nashville won the $5,000 Local Blogger award for his blog, Taxing Tennessee, which gets on average over 2 million views weekly and covers topics on taxes, freedom, and individual rights.
We Demand A Vote Coalition from Hamilton County, Ohio won the $10,000 “Modern-Day Sam Adams award for its work to defeat an $800 million sales tax increase through grassroots mobilization.
