Arlington, VA – The Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit educational organization based in suburban Washington, DC, will award U.S. high school students – and their teachers – cash prizes totaling over $60,000 during the 2007-08 school year, the organization announced today. Students in 19 states and the District of Columbia will be eligible to compete in the “Being an American” essay contest, which explores the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.

In their essays, participating students are asked to answer the following question: “What civic value(s) do you believe are most essential to being an American, and how can you personally put those values into practice?” Winning essays will be announced in the spring of 2008 and will earn the students and their teachers in each region cash prizes of up to $5,000 each.

To help integrate the contest into the classroom, the Bill of Rights Institute has created a lesson plan and supplemental materials about the contest topic, tied the contest to state and national academic standards, and constructed a web site so that teachers can submit their students’ essays for consideration.

Supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the contest will continue to expand nationally until all 50 states participate during the 2009-2010 school year.

Additional details on the “Being an American” essay contest can be found below. Further information, including complete contest rules, submission details, lesson plans and background information on the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Founding Fathers and other Americans who have contributed to America’s shared civic values are available at www.BeingAnAmerican.org.
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