The Chattanooga winners of the Sixth Annual Civics Essay Contest will be honored at a ceremony at the Joel W. Solomon United States Courthouse in Chattanooga, on May 2, at 4:30 p.m.
The 2024 divisional winners of the middle school essay contest are Liam Smitherman (1st Place), William Lacy (2nd Place), and Anders Porth (3rd Place).
The 2024 divisional winners of the high school essay contest are Ryan Matthews (1st Place), Gracie Hibbs (2nd Place), and Amiya Phade (3rd place). All winners will receive cash prizes at the ceremony.
The essay contest was open to public, private, and home school students in 6th to 12th grade in 17 East Tennessee counties. The Court’s Civics and Outreach Subcommittee and the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association sponsored the contest.
The prompt this year was a question the Supreme Court will likely soon address: Should social media platforms have a right to restrict political speech? Students were invited to share their views on controversial laws that seek to regulate how large social media platforms restrict, moderate, and prioritize user-posted political content.
The local essay contest was coordinated with the national essay contest sponsored by the Federal Bar Association. More information is posted on the court’s website at connections.tned.uscourts.gov.