Competition offers cash prize for new ideas to strengthen nation’s democratic systems

It’s time to take that great idea you have about how to rethink American democracy, dust it off and submit it for a cash prize. The Illinois Humanities Council with financial support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has teamed up with 36 other organizations, including the PBS Newshour, American University’s Center for Social Media and the Maryland Humanities Council, to host a contest called “Looking @ Democracy.”

The contest calls on people of all ages to submit their answer to the question, “How can we work together to strengthen our democracy?” The competition is digital media agnostic. Music, video, Web sites, mobile apps — it doesn’t matter — but keep your audio and video to under three minutes in length. In other words, think viral. In that vein, submissions can be “informative, persuasive, serious, funny, satirical, personal, inspirational or critical,” according to the Web site. Think provocative.