Our earmarks contest continues into its final leg. Earmark hunters across the country have collected over 25,000 earmark requests in our database, and the “wanted” list continues to shrink!

We are also changing the way Washington works. Last week the Office of Management and Budget in the White House announced that they would be tracking earmark requests beginning with next year’s budget cycle.

This is a tremendous sign of progress that all our earmark hunters deserve credit for. The transparency heroes across the country who have put in those 25,000 earmarks are going to get a handle on how members of Congress and senators direct spending to special projects in their districts and states.

Now, as to the contest itself, there has been a position change in the top three, but “ArtsyAndi” continues to hold the top spot.

The real goal is bringing transparency to the earmark process, so each and every earmark hunter deserves our thanks and praise – even for just entering the earmarks of a local representative or a nearby representative. If you have done this, please enter a few more! (Be sure to log in.)

The person who enters the most earmarks will win an Amazon Kindle; number two gets an iPod Shuffle; and number three wins a regular deluxe fruitcake!

The contest continues until we have collected all congressional earmarks or October 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

As you’ve been reading, your excitement has built to a fever pitch – let’s get to the current standings!

#1 – to win an Amazon Kindle: ArtsyAndi
#2 – to win an iPod Shuffle: doi76
#3 – to win a deluxe regular fruitcake: curlymanster
#4 – Transparency Guru: lgist
#5 – Open Government Maven: sdwalker
#6 – Accountability Czar: ZachV
#7 – Earmark Stalker: bgarst
#8 – Pursuer of Good Government: bias
#9 – Congressional Conscience: HansP
#10 – Fully Qualified Data Entry Clerk: jwbjerk

(current to the morning of Sunday, August 16th)

Here’s the current list of wanted earmarks. Keep entering that earmark data!

Remember, you must be logged in to receive credit for your earmarks. Only complete earmarks get credit. If you’re pasting in data from a PDF, please try to clip out linebreaks, which are unattractive when the information is displayed elsewhere. Read more about the contest here. And here is our earmark entry form.

Again, the important thing is that this project will make available to millions of Americans how their money is spent in Washington, D.C. Together we are improving the way our government works. Thank you to everyone participating in the contest, and thank you to those of you taking care of just one or two local representatives and senators.