SLA

I have in mind an award for quality literature/journalism, regardless if the person isn't on Steemit. As an archetype, I'm using the Pulitzer Prize. It's a well-known award and it's worth $15,000.

This idea came to my mind a few months ago, but at the time the price of Steem didn't provide much space for the discussion. I think now is the time.

By steep price about $2.50 the Steemit daily reward pool is now about $100.000 - even more considering overpriced SBD - and that means that if the community picks up the idea, we could easily surpass the Pulitzer in terms of award value.

I think it would be great public relations for Steemit.

Of course, in any case, it not going to happen by tomorrow. First, we have to create a transparent voting system to choose candidates.
If a big chunk of the reward pool has to go to an outsider, everyone should have equal rights to choose the recipient as everyone has "equal rights" for a piece of the pool, regardless of the amount of Steem Power one owns.
Also if someone with a high-level reputation score - like 70 - received a higher vote weight compared to someone with a reputation score of, for instance, 35, I see no drama there.

Imagine someone who's never heard anything about Steemit and came to learn how some popular writer/journalist just received an award that's twice as valuable as the Pulitzer - award and that's just a little part of rewards distributed on Steemit daily. It's quite tempting, isn't it?

Of course, one realizes that when divided between few thousand participants, a $100.000 isn't that much. Then again, one would hope to get the jackpot with one's own story. That's how people's minds work, after all.

Apart from the reward pool, another option to collect money for the Award would be the ICO-like platform suggested by @jesta here:
https://steemit.com/steem-dev/@jesta/an-experimental-script-for-running-ico-like-events-on-steem

For many people whose vote has little impact but who would like to contribute, a donation of a few dollars might be a better solution.

If the crypto world continues to grow at the same pace it is now, over the next few years the next target for a Steemit Literature Award could easily reach parity with the Nobel Prize, worth about $1,000,000.

So maybe we should give it a try. Who feel likes giving the Nobel a run for its money?