September 2006:

The Bill of Rights Institute launches its Being an American Essay Contest.

The contest, made possible by generous sponsorship from the John Templeton Foundation, enabled the Institute to directly engage students and generate discussions among them about what unites us as American citizens.

In its first year, the contest included high school students in Kansas, Texas, and Virginia. In 2007, the contest expanded to include 19 states before becoming a nationwide event in 2008. Over those three years, it quickly became the nation’s largest high school essay contest, with over 50,000 essays submitted. In the 2008 contest, the Institute awarded more than $180,000 to students (and their teachers) for their excellent essays in response to the prompt, “What civic value do you believe is most essential to being an American?”  All finalists, along with their teachers and families, were invited to a gala in Washington D.C. at which Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke to the young people about civic duty.

For more information about the Being an American essay contest, click here!.