The winners of the Seventh Annual Civics Essay Contest will be honored at a ceremony at the Joel W. Solomon United States Courthouse in Chattanooga on May 1 at 5 p.m.
The 2025 divisional winners of the essay contest are Emma Hornsby (first place), Eliza Perryman (second place) and Victoria Matthews (third place). All winners will receive cash prizes at the ceremony.
The essay contest takes place every year and is open to public, private and home school students in 17 East Tennessee counties.
The contest is cosponsored by the Court’s Civics and Outreach Subcommittee and the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
The prompt this year was a question that will soon be addressed by the Supreme Court of the United States: What factors should courts consider in determining whether a police officer’s use of deadly force was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment?
The local essay contest was related to the national contest sponsored by the Federal Bar Association. More
information is posted on the Court’s website: connections.tned.uscourts.gov.