State of the States portal
State of the States, an online portal run by the US Centre at LSE, has won the digital innovation prize at the Guardian University Awards.
A free, apolitical resource, States of the States gives in-depth political, economic and demographic data on each of the 50 US states, alongside policy and political updates drawn from local news and blogs.
Users are also able to search by state for developments on a range of issues including civil rights, gun laws, climate change and abortion.
Since its launch in November 2018, the portal has been viewed over 1,500 times with more interactions each day. It has also amassed over 1,600 news and blog updates, making it a comprehensive resource for anyone wanting to explore US state politics.
The State of the States was made possible thanks to support from LSE’s Annual Fund and was masterminded and put together in the summer of 2018 by USAPP blog editor, Chris Gilson, and LSE Masters’ student, Sarah Scaffidi.
The project now has pride of place in the Guardian University Awards’ ideas bank, and will serve as best practice inspiration to others.
Commenting on the win, Managing Editor of the USAPP blog, Chris Gilson said, “It’s great to have this project from the US Centre recognised by the Guardian University Awards judges. Now, more than ever, US politics are crucially important to the rest of the world, and to get a sense of where they are going, we have to look at the US states themselves. The State of the States is simple and easy to use resource that can help people do just that.”
Explore the State of the States at: https://thestateofthestates.org/