Essay competition deadline nears

Area high school students interested in the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship have an opportunity to add up to $5,000 to their savings accounts. Deadline for entering the annual "Being an American" essay contest is approaching.

Nationally, cash prizes totaling more than $60,000 will be awarded to students and sponsoring teachers. Teachers can submit essays online at www.BeingAn American.org. Entries must be submitted by Dec. 3.

The contest is open to high school students in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Winning essays will be announced next spring.

Students are asked to answer the following question: "What civic value or values do you believe are most essential to being an American, and how can you personally put those values into practice?"

To encourage teachers to integrate the contest into their classroom work, the Bill of Rights Institute has created a lesson plan and supplemental materials on the contest topic, constructed a website so teachers can submit student essays for consideration, and included equal cash prizes for teachers as well as students.

Essays must be no more than 3,300 characters (approximately 500 words), and judging is based on adherence to essay guidelines, originality, organization, writing style and depth of analysis.