Thanks everyone who gave! As of Friday afternoon, the last official day of our fundraising drive for The Tyee Investigative and Reporting Fellowships, the total amount of donations received hovered right around $12,000. That's $2,000 past our baseline goal.

Which is fantastic, because with what we already had in reserve we now have enough to launch another round of requests for applications for Fellowships.

Independent journalists wishing to apply should watch this space in the coming week. We'll be publishing a story explaining the criteria, who is judging, and more. For now, here is a backgrounder.

We'll also be publishing later this week a full report with an exact tally of the amount raised, including a list of the issues that givers have told us they want The Tyee to tackle.

And in the coming days we'll be notifying the winners of our contest. Three lucky folks out there each will be receiving a $100 gift certificate to Red Cat Records and $100 worth of new titles from D&M and New Society Books!

For now, it's my pleasure to thank everyone who gave. In so doing you have guaranteed that four committed, independent journalists will each receive fellowships of $5,000 to carry out in-depth reporting that exposes challenges we face in British Columbia, and ways to solve them. The reporting will be published on The Tyee and elsewhere, with the writers' approval.

The true benefactors are the citizens of this province and beyond, who will be better educated and empowered by what you made possible.

We at The Tyee continue to be humbled, amazed and exceedingly grateful for the support -- in spirit and resources -- we receive from our community of engaged readers. Great swimming with you!