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EIGHTH ANNUAL
CONSTITUTION CONTEST
OFFERING UP TO $4,500 IN PRIZE MONEY
TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN
THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
PROUD TO HAVE AWARDED A TOTAL OF $23,100 IN PRIZE MONEY
TO 119 STUDENTS FROM 22 HIGH SCHOOLS OVER PAST 7 YEARS
Subject: The origin of some aspect of the U.S. Constitution, specifically, one of the four topics listed on this website's Topics page.*
Who Is Eligible: All students in grades 9 through 12 in the 32 counties that constitute the Northern District of New York.* There is no entry fee.
Rules:
1. Each student may submit only one entry per annual contest.
2. Each entry must be submitted in the form of a Video Performance (e.g., speech, recitation, argument, song, skit, etc.).
3. All entries must regard one of the four topics listed on the Topics page, and answer all of the questions posed by that topic.
4. All entries must be entrant’s original work, cite any ideas and expressions that are not the entrant’s own, and rely only on primary sources (e.g., clauses of the Constitution, Federalist Papers, Anti-Federalist Papers, speeches, letters, Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention, etc., some of which are identified on the Topics page).***
5. All entries must follow the Format, Method of Submission, and Due Date requirements set forth below.
Format:
1. Video Performances must be shorter than 10 minutes in duration.
2. All entries must--in an accompanying email--indicate the student's identifying information: full name, home mailing address, telephone number, email address, grade level, and high school if the student is not home schooled.
Method of Submission: Video Performances must be submitted through a two-step process. First, the video must be uploaded to one of three platforms: (a) YouTube; (b) Instagram Reels; or (c) Instragram Video. Second, a link to the video must be emailed to Program Director Michael G. Langan, Esq., at michael_langan@nynd.uscourts.gov.
Due Date: Entries are due by midnight on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. No entries will be accepted after midnight.
Judging: By a panel of three or more federal court judges based on a scoring rubric, to be applied by the judges in their sole discretion. The scoring rubric has two parts of equal value: (1) whether the entry’s answers to the questions posed in the topic are thorough and supported by historical sources; and (2) whether the entry's answers to the questions posed in the topic are clear, interesting, and persuasive. All decisions are final. Results will be announced by the end of Sunday, September 17, 2023 ("Constitution Day").
Prizes: Monetary prizes will be awarded for entrants winning first place, second place, third place, and honorable mention. Up to $4,500 in prize money will be awarded in amounts determined in the Program Director's discretion, with the first place winner guaranteed a prize of at least $1,000. All winning entries become the non-exclusive property of the Program for one year following submission and must remain posted online during that time period.
* These are the 32 counties that constitute the Northern District of New York: Albany, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren and Washington.
** The Program expresses no opinion about the comparative appropriateness of the available methods of constitutional interpretation (e.g., textualism, structuralism, original meaning, judicial precedent, pragmatism, moral reasoning, etc.).
*** The Program Director retains the discretion to disqualify entries that do not sufficiently regard the origin of some aspect of the U.S. Constitution (specifically, one of the topics listed on the website's Topics page), and/or sufficiently rely on and cite primary sources.
