LAS VEGAS –The District of Nevada is pleased to announce that the 2025 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest will accept essay and video entries beginning January 8, 2025.
The theme of the 2025 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest is “When Duty Calls: Why Exercising the Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship is Important to Me.” This is an annual essay and video competition open to students in grades 9-12 in public, private, parochial, charter schools and home-schooled students of equivalent grade status in nine western states, the U.S. Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Children and relatives of federal court employees are not eligible to participate.
Students will have an opportunity to win cash prizes while learning about the rights and responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen. Students will explore deeply how they affect their rights and how their rights can affect them. The students are asked to discuss the theme in an essay of 500-1,000 words or in a 3–5-minute video. Contest rules are available on the civics contest website at https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/civicscontest/.
Essay and video winners will each share $2,850 in total cash prizes – $1,500 for first place, $850 for second place, and $500 for third place. Winners in the District of Nevada will compete at the circuit level where they will share $11,400 in total cash prizes – $3,000 for first place, $1,700 for second place and $1,000 for third place. In addition, first-place winners at the circuit level will be invited to attend the 2025 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, where students will be recognized for their achievements and also participate in a special panel discussion with members of the bench and bar.
The contest opens on January 8, 2025. Essay and/or video entries can be submitted online on the civics contest website. Deadline to submit entries is 11:59 PM (PST), Friday, March 7, 2025. Finalists will be announced in May and the winners in June.