THE POYNTER INSTITUTE WANTS TO build a resource for journalists that will inspire and educate, in much the same way as the Seven Wonders of the World inspired architects and inventors centuries ago.

Roy Peter Clark, vice president and senior scholar at Poynter, is inviting journalists to submit their own Wonders of the Journalism World.

("No," he writes, "they are not lunch, coffee, diet coke, per diem, payday, day off or buyouts.")

The goal, he said, is to "remind all of us of the historical forces that help us do our best work today, and to articulate a set of enduring values that will help protect and advance journalism in unsettled times."

The categories are:

• Documents (like the First Amendment).
• People (such as Walter Cronkite).
• Institutions (such as the BBC).
• Events (such as the publication of the Pentagon Papers).
• Technology (such as the invention of the telegraph).
• Works (such as the front page of The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001).

There are no limits on what can be nominated in each category, big and famous or small and influential, he wrote. The folks at Poynter will narrow down the list of nominations in each category to 10, then place those in a round-robin-style tourney for readers to vote on.

- Mark Mahoney, The Post-Star, Glens Falls, N.Y.

Nominate a "wonder" at Poynter Online.