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 2008-2009 competition. To see which region you are in, click here.

Cash prizes for Students in the 2008-2009 Competition

• First place - $5,000
• Second place - $2,500
• Third place - $1,250
• Honorable Mentions (7 prizes awarded in each region) - $250

Cash prizes for Teachers in the 2008-2009 Competition
If you are the teacher-submitter of the essay, you will win an amount equal to what the student wins for First, Second, or Third place.

• First place - $5,000
• Second place - $2,500
• Third place - $1,250

Win a trip to Washington, D.C. for an Awards Weekend!

The top three essays' writers and their teachers will win an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the 2008-2009 Essay Contest Awards Weekend and Gala! To see what last year's winners did on their weekend in Washington, D.C., please click here. 

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.

The two schools with the greatest percentage of eligible students participating will receive a full set of Bill of Rights Institute curriculum. This prize will be based upon the number of eligible student participants per school as noted during the teacher registration process. 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.