The American Academy of Arts & Sciences envisions the milestone 250th anniversary as an opportunity to strengthen the nation’s commitment to constitutional democracy. The semi-quincentennial invites reflection on the full breadth of American history and offers a moment to forge shared aspirations for the future.

Since 2022, the Academy's Our Common Purpose project has brought together a network of leading civil society organizations—including those representing the arts, museums, libraries, local history institutions, state and jurisdictional humanities councils, and academic centers. Together, this network has developed a set of guiding principles to support a commemoration that is inclusive, meaningful, and reflective of the nation’s diverse experiences.

A National Showcase For Journalism
 

To support the important role that journalism plays in a healthy constitutional democracy and to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Academy will commission and recognize outstanding journalism projects that engage local communities in discussing America’s story and its founding ideals.

Student journalists

We invite you to submit reporting projects that engage local communities in discussing America’s story and its founding ideals. Learn more.

Local journalists

We invite you to submit reporting projects that engage local communities in discussing America’s story and its founding ideals. Learn more.

Local freelance journalists

We invite you to submit pitches about a wide variety of communities across the country, showing how they are living out the Declaration's themes of freedom, equality, democracy, disagreement, collaboration, history, and the meaning of being American. Learn more.

To learn more about this initiative, please contact Kelsey Ensign.

"Listen and Dialogue" photo by SolStock.
"Include" photo by Jordan Crawford.
"Reckon, Celebrate, and Imagine" and "Experiment" photos by Smithsonian National Museum of American History.