Sunshine Week, March 10-16
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has a right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to federal agency records, unless the record is protected from public disclosure by one of nine exemptions or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions
Sunshine Week Resources
Below is the full text of both laws, full text with commentary, the Attorney Generals Compliance guide.
Other Helpful Websites:
NMFOG (New Mexico Foundation for Open Government)
Attorney General:
Inspection of Public Records Act
Questions?
Please direct any questions about the essay contest to:
Jonathan Butz, Library Specialist, Reference & Research Services Department at butz@nmsu.edu
or
Josefine Smith, Government Documents & Maps Librarian, Reference & Research Services Department
Email:jmasmith@nmsu.edu
Phone: 575-646-4385
The Sunshine Week Essay Contest Winners have been announced!
To celebrate Sunshine Week (March 10-16), the New Mexico State University Library held a student essay contest and hosted a reception, co-sponsored with NMSU alumnus Tim Parker and NMSU’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.
NMSU students were invited to submit an essay of 600 to 800 words explaining how New Mexico’s Sunshine laws encourage citizen participation in state government.
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| 1st place winner Phil Davies studies Journalism & Mass Communications at NMSU. |
After reviewing all of the entries, a panel of judges awarded 1st prize to NMSU Journalism student Phil Davies and 2nd prize to NMSU Journalism student Dana Beasley. Davies received a $200 gift certificate from the Barnes & Noble at NMSU Bookstore, while Beasley received a $100 Barnes & Noble gift certificate.
The March 13 reception featured keynote speaker Walt Rubel, Managing Editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News, who shared with the NMSU and Las Cruces community his own experience in news media fighting for open government.
“There are no special privileges for newspapers, radio or TV stations,” Rubel later wrote in a column for the Sun-News. “Everyone has the same right to inspect public records and attend public meetings.”
Sunshine Week is an annual national celebration of open government, transparency and freedom of information. The aim of the local event was to raise awareness of New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act and the Inspection of Public Records Act.
For more information, contact Library Specialist Jonathan Butz at butz@nmsu.edu or Government Documents & Maps Librarian Josefine Smith at jmasmith@nmsu.edu.
Click the links below to read the winning essays:
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