We announced a few weeks ago in Gadfly that the National Council on Teacher Quality had opened up the second year of their bi-annual research competition. The contest specifically looks for research that uses NCTQ's TR3 database, which chronicles the collective bargaining agreements of the nation's largest districts, though using TR3 is not a prerequisite.
Good news: NCTQ has extended their proposal deadline to June 10 (originally June 1). This is a really neat competition--the papers from 2009 were fascinating and original. Plus, there's a good amount of award money involved and the chance to have your research appraised by a panel of top thinkers and policy makers in ed policy. (The 2009 panel included Eric Hanushek, Michael Podgursky, and Jane Hannaway, for example.) Find more information and apply here.
--Stafford Palmieri