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Prompt |
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Through satire, comedian Stephen Colbert recently drew attention to issues surrounding freedom of speech and how the freedom to spend money to promote or attack candidates may influence elections. Many people believe that wealthy individuals, corporations, and unions have too much influence on elections through their donations of large sums of money to organizations that promote or attack candidates running for office. Because the Supreme Court interprets the First Amendment in a way that considers paying for campaign ads as protected speech, government is limited in how much regulation it can impose on such communication.
If it should, when should the government regulate free speech regarding elections? If not, why should the government be precluded from the regulation of election related free speech?
Here are some links that may aid you in your research:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/382014/april-14-2011/colbert-super-pac---trevor-potter
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/391147/june-30-2011/colbert-super-pac---stephen-files-his-super-pac-papers---addresses-colbert-nation
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html
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Essay/Blog |
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An essay is a piece of writing written from the author’s personal point of view and has become an integral part of education--though the technical definition remains broad. Webster’s dictionary defines essay as an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view.
For this contest, essays must be:
Based on factual information; the author is required to propriately address the subjects included in the prompt
Expressed in no more than 600 words
Created by students in grades 9 through 12; one entry per person (multiple entries may be cause to be disqualified from judging)
Meet the general contest rules
For this contest a blog must:
Satisfactorily address the prompt for judges who produce professional blogs
Be based on factual information
Be limited to 600 words or less (not including any formatting for space that allows for comments by readers)
Meet the general contest rules
Be submitted by mail or by clicking here.
Mailed entries must be addressed to:
ATTN: Secretary of State Essay Contest
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes
700 Capital Avenue, Suite 152
Frankfort, KY 40601-4335
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Video Essay |
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A video essay may include different film making styles (for example black and white or color, stop action, etc.) and focus more on the evolution of the issue presented in the prompt.
To be considered for this contest a video essay must:
Be from 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length
Address the issue posed in the prompt to be suitable for judging
Be submitted by uploading to the entry site or sent by mail on a readable DVD or by linking your video's YouTube address to our YouTube channel.
Mailed entries must be addressed to:
ATTN: Secretary of State Essay Contest
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes
700 Capital Avenue, Suite 152
Frankfort, KY 40601-4335
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Graphic/Art |
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Types of submissions which will be considered for judging for 2012 are:
An original photographic essay that attempts to cover the prompt topic with through a single image or linked series of photographs; it may or may not have an accompanying text or captions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_essay).
Original poster design that depicts the creator’s point of view about the issues presented in the prompt using visual art and/or graphics.
Other two dimensional original art creation that depicts the artist’s point of view about the issues presented in the prompt with or without a title for the piece.
This may be submitted by mailing photographs or by clicking here.
(Note: If you are uploading an image with a caption please copy the image into the word document and write the caption below, submitting it as a single document)
Mailed entries must be addressed to:
ATTN: Secretary of State Essay Contest
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes
700 Capital Avenue, Suite 152
Frankfort, KY 40601-4335
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Slam Poetry/Dramatic Reading Presentation |
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For the 2012 competition our poetry slam contest is the competitive art of performance poetry with a dual emphasis on writing and performance. Like your mom always says, “It’s not just what you say it’s how you say it.” The SoS poetry slam asks that you focus on not only how your poem is written and addresses the prompt but how you dramatically interpret your poem for the camera (and our judges). ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slam_poetry#Academia_and_slam) To be considered for judging the slam poetry submission must:
Be original poetry created by the student submitting the entry Address the prompt in two minutes with a 10 second grace period Be submitted on a DVD or a file uploaded to the entry site Be absent of additional props, costumes, musical instruments or anything more than the poet her or himself. Designed for an audience to react vocally and openly to all aspects of the poet's performance and our judges' scores. Dramatic reading-presentation This is basically your dramatic reading of your original essay that addresses the prompt and again, with the dual emphasis on writing and dramatic oral interpretation. Unlike lots dramatic readings on the internet, the interest here is in how the author conveys a response to the prompt and meets the general rules rather than an out-of-context interpretation. After all, voting and elections are serious business but can certainly use anything from humor to sardonicism to make a point.
To be considered for judging a dramatic reading-presentation must:
Satisfactorily address the prompt for judges in content and presentation Be based on factual information Be limited to 600 words or less Meet the general contest rules Be submitted by uploading to the entry site or sent by mail on a readable DVD or by linking your video's YouTube address to our YouTube channel.
Mailed entries must be addressed to:
ATTN: Secretary of State Essay Contest
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes
700 Capital Avenue, Suite 152
Frankfort, KY 40601-4335
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Contest Rules |
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Contest welcomes entries produced by any student in Kentucky who meets the criteria of the specific entry category.
Winners will be notified no later than the end of March 2012.
Entries become the property of the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.
Winning entries will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website and may be used for other civic- related material.
To be considered by judges, entries must be postmarked by Sunday, January 15, 2012 or submitted electronically to no later than 5 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Sunday, January 15, 2012.
To submit your essay by mail complete this form (pdf 29kb) and attach it to your essay.
Each entry will be judged on the following:
purpose of communication
idea development
organization
use of language
accuracy and evidence of subject comprehension
According to the law, winners will participate in a presentation that includes the Secretary of State or a representative of the office.
Mailed entries must be addressed to:
ATTN: Secretary of State Essay Contest
Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes
700 Capital Avenue, Suite 152
Frankfort, KY 40601-4335
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Partners |
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We are proud to partner with Houchens Industries, KEA Retired, Turner Construction, the University of Kentucky Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, and US Bank. Without their financial support and involvement, this contest would not be possible.
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