It’s the U.S. of A 2018, friends and frenemies! And, hey now, maybe you’re thinking we’ve had enough madness mongering already. Hit the headlines and you’ll see the latest list of reasons it’s a crazy world out there; is it mad enough for you already, folks? Well, turn away now, then, fam, because MuckRock is back for a third year with our annual faceoff! World! It’s FOIA MARCH MADNESS 2018!!!

Here’s how it works:

We’ve chosen 64 teams from across the federal Freedom of Information Act offices. The selection is less-than-scientific, including some fan favorites from last year and some new contenders and absent certain non-responsives from the 2017 iteration.

We’ll be submitting the same FOIA request to each office, eliminating slowpokes each week and advancing those quick on the reply. The offices have been divided into four divisions, so we’re going to need you to submit your picks for each of the groups: the final two-team match-up for each division, the winner of each of those pairings, and an overall winner.

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Last year’s champion, the Securities and Exchange Commission, took the top spot by getting us a year’s worth of FOIA appeal determinations in less than two weeks!

This year, we’re looking for talking points to the agency since November 2016. Bracket submissions will close at midnight, end-of-day, on Monday, March 14. Our final winners will receive 20 MuckRock requests and a MuckRock swag pack.

Who do you think will come through with their custom conversation commands the quickest? Choose your champions below, and may the March Madness merriment begin!

Image by Pete Souza via Wikimedia Commons