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Like other crowdsourcing websites we’ve covered, Canadian startup Spudaroo aims to connect businesses with talented ‘crowds’ of creatives. This time, the focus is on the written word rather than graphic design. Launched in October, Spudaroo allows small business owners and entrepreneurs to tap into a growing community of freelance copywriters, authors and business writers to crowdsource submissions for business plans, presentations, press releases, newsletters, web content and more. How it works? Clients outline their project requirements, upload any material to be used as part of the project and set the amount of prize money they’re willing to pay. Writers then review project briefs and submit their entries. When the contest period ends, the contest holder selects a winning entry, the winner transfers copyright and final materials to the client, and Spudaroo transfers the prize money to the winner. Prize money minimums range from USD 75 for articles and blog content, to USD 450 for user guides and manuals. In addition to the prize money, the cost per posting is a USD 20 listing fee, plus a 10% prize handling fee (maximum USD 30). The site also caters to job hunters by facilitating resume and cover letter writing contests. Spudaroo offers clients the advantage of having writers compete to deliver high-quality submissions on schedule. Spudaroo’s founder Kate Hiscox explains: “Spudaroo was created because it was a service that we would use. A couple of times we used companies that claimed to specialize in producing business plans or sales material. We’d meet, discuss and hand over some money for them to get started, but the results rarely met our expectations. So it was time to level the playing field for our business and others just like us.” With Spudaroo taking care of written business materials and ventures like CrowdSPRING, 99designs and customAdArt offering access to graphic designers and commercial photographers, what will we see the crowdsourcing contest model applied to next?