Here's what you could win!

Both teachers and students can win cash and other prizes for submitting an essay. Listed below are the prizes that will be given out in each region during the 2009-2010 competition. To see which region you are in, click here.

An all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2010!

The top 27 student winners will get an all-expenses paid trip to our nation's capital in the spring of 2010 along with the teacher that submitted their essays and a parent. Click here to see what last year's top 27 winners got to experience.

Cash prizes for Students in the 2009-2010 Competition

• First place - $5,000
• Second place -$2,500
• Third place - $1,250
• Honorable Mentions (7 in each of 9 regions) - $250

Cash prizes for Teachers in the 2009-2010 Competition
If you are the teacher-submitter of the essay, you will win a cash prize if your student wins First, Second, Third place, or an Honorable Mention.

• First place - $5,000
• Second place - $2,500
• Third place - $1,250
• Honorable Mentions (7 in each of 9 regions) - $250

Participation Prizes

A Bill of Rights wallet card for each eligible student participant will be mailed to teachers who signify that 50 or more of their students participated in the contest at the classroom level. Teachers must signify the number of student participants during the essay submission process.

Two school participation prizes will be awarded this year.  One full set of Bill of Rights Institute curriculum will be awarded to the school with the highest percentage of eligible students participating, and with fewer than 1,000 students enrolled ("small school" prize). Another full set of curriculum will be awarded to the school with the highest percentage of eligible students participating, and with more than 1,000 students enrolled ("large school" prize). This prize is worth nearly $600! This includes 8 curriculum:

• Being an American: Exploring the Ideals that Unite Us 
• The Bill of Rights and You: Rights and Responsibilities
• The Bill of Rights for Real Life
• Citizenship and Character: Understanding America's Civic Values
• Conflict and Continuity: The Story of American Freedom
• Faces of Freedom in American History
• Founders and the Constitution: In Their Own Words, Volumes I and II
• The Media and American Democracy

For more information about prizes, please see our official Rules and Regulations.