The Youth Leadership Program of the

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1 The Youth Leadership Program of the Renaissance Training Institute for Empowered Living, Inc. (RTIEL) Announces the 3 rd Annual Youth Civil Rights Leadership Essay Contest (See for more information on RTIEL, Inc., which is a non-profit organization based in Texas) Student winners of the Youth Leadership Trip to Alabama February/March 2013 Contest Overview High school students (i.e., grades ) in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex will have the opportunity to compete for an all-expense paid trip to the RTIEL Youth Civil Rights Leadership Tour, which will consist of visits to historic sites in the cities of Montgomery and Selma, Alabama and various youth summit activities hosted by the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute. The tour will culminate with attendance at the 50th Annual "Bloody Sunday" Re-enactment

2 crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge (see The tentative dates for the tour are March 6 March 10, Up to six (6) students will be selected as winners for the all-expense paid trip to Alabama. Additionally, the first and second place winners will receive college scholarships in the amounts below. First prize: $1000 SCHOLARSHIP Second prize: $500 SCHOLARSHIP Contest Eligibility The RTIEL, Inc. Youth Civil Rights Leadership Essay Contest (hereinafter, referred to as Contest ) is open to all high school students, grades nine through twelve, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Eligible students may be attending a public, private, or parochial school. Additionally, entries from home-schooled students are also accepted. Previous winners and immediate relatives of directors or staff of RTIEL, Inc. (hereinafter, referred to as Sponsor ) are not eligible to participate. Students who previously entered the Contest but were not chosen as winners may participate in this year s contest. Essay Contest Registration Directions Registration: Online registration for the contest will be available at programs/youth-leadership-program/ youth-leadership-essay-contest/ registration-directions/ and will begin on November 1, Registration will end at 11:59 pm Central Standard Time (CST) on December 21, When they register, students will need to enter their full name, address, city, state, zip code, daytime phone number, an alternate phone number (if available), address, date of birth, and the name of their high school and their grade classification (if applicable). Upon registering, students will receive a confirmation from the Sponsor which will contain his or her essay identification number. After receiving the confirmation , students will be required to electronically sign an affidavit in order to affirm that his or her essay entry is their own original work. Additionally, the contestant s parents must give their permission by signing an affidavit for the student to participate in the contest and to attend the trip if the student were to win. These affidavits must be sent via to essaycontest@rtiel.org in order for students to be eligible to participate. Essay Submission: Students may begin submitting their essays on November 1, 2013, and all essays must be submitted online and received and recorded by the Sponsor s computer (the official Contest time keeping device) by 11:59 pm CST on December 21, Essays should be

3 submitted by sending an to with the essay uploaded as an attachment. When the student is ready to submit his or her essay, each contestant must identify his or her paper with only the provided essay identification number. At this point, anonymity is required. Neither the student s name nor the name of the student s school should appear anywhere in his or her essay. The student must use his or her essay identification number as their sole identifier. To ensure fair and anonymous judging, each contestant's identifying information may only appear on his or her registration form. Once the essay is electronically received, each contestant will once again receive an from the Sponsor which will verify the proper receipt of their essay entry. Essay Contest Topic The Supreme Court and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. Its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny. - Lyndon Baines Johnson s Remarks on the Signing of the Voting Rights Act (August 6, 1965) INTRODUCTION: One of the legacies of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is the right to vote for people of color. Martin Luther King, Jr. along with other civil rights activists fought to secure this right by participating in protest marches. Bloody Sunday resulted from activists who attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama protesting for the rights of voters. On March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday, activists were gassed, beaten, and left for dead at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama as they participated in the first of three marches for voting rights in Alabama. The activists were eventually successful as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Because some states, particularly in the South, had historically discriminated against minorities who sought to exercise their right to vote, Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act served to ensure that these states were not able to change their election laws without the approval of the federal government. However, in June of 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated a key part of the Act no longer requiring that these states obtain this pre-clearance. Consequently, the purpose of this essay is to not only explore the Voting Rights Act of 1965, particularly Sections 4 and 5 of

4 that Act, but to also examine the effects of the Supreme Court s recent repeal of Section 4 of the Act. More specific information about the essay topic is outlined below. TOPIC: 1. To familiarize yourself with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, please review the documents at the following websites, and any other reputable resource you need. Please be sure to cite appropriately: Write an essay that examines the Voting Rights Act particularly Sections 4 and 5 and the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that repealed Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and rendered Section 5 of the Act of no use, please address the following in your essay: a. Begin your essay by providing a brief description of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the relevance of Sections 4 and 5 of the Act during the Civil Rights era. b. Provide a discussion of the arguments for and against repealing Section 4 of the Act. c. Express your opinion with evidence supporting your opinion regarding the Supreme Court s decision. d. Discuss the impact of the Supreme Court s decision on the legacy of various Civil Rights activists. e. Discuss what the young people of the 21 st century can do to ensure that the spirit of the Voting Rights Act one citizen, one vote lives on. Be sure to take note of the following specific points: Entries will only be accepted electronically. Essays should be submitted by sending an with the essay as an attachment to essaycontest@rtiel.org by the contest deadline. You will receive a confirmation that your essay was received. If you do not receive a confirmation , please send an message to info@rtiel.org to inquire about your entry. There is no entry fee. Please use Times New Roman/12 point font to write your paper. The document should be written in a software program such as Microsoft Word. Type your essay entry in English, free from spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Double-space your entire essay, and maintain one inch margins top, bottom, right, and left. Create a header on each page, top right, that includes your essay identification number (which you will receive once you have completed the online registration) and the page number. Place your essay title on the first page, top center.

5 Address the essay topic in 750 to 1,500 words. Report the number of words used in your essay at the end of your essay text, prior to the bibliography or works cited page. The word count does not include the bibliography or works cited page, nor works cited in footnotes, if footnotes are used. To obtain your essay s word count without the number of words used in the bibliography or works cited, highlight your essay text only, go to the computer word-count tool (under Tools on the computer tool bar), and the word-count tool will read only the highlighted words. Although the documents cited above should be each contestant s primary sources, it does not necessarily have to be the student s only source. Additional sources of researched information, aside from the documentary, are not required. However, if desired, Contest participants may cite other sources in their essays. All entries must follow acceptable standards regarding attribution of direct quotations, paraphrases, and ideas of others, using endnotes or in-text citations. Standardized citations and a bibliography or works cited page are required to identify all research sources. Once an entry is submitted it cannot be changed, altered or modified. All registration and entry information submitted becomes the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. By entering, student entrants agree to the Official Terms and Conditions of the Contest and to the decisions from the Sponsor, which will be final and binding on all matters relating to this Contest. Awards for Winning Essays The exact number of essay contest winners will be determined by the quantity and the quality of the entries received. Up to six (6) winning essays will be selected. First and second place contest winners will be awarded a monetary prize. The First Place Winner will receive a $1000 college scholarship, and the Second Place Winner will receive a $500 college scholarship. Additionally, all winners (including the 1st and 2nd place winners) will also receive an all-expense paid trip to Alabama as part of the RTIEL, Inc. Youth Civil Rights Leadership Tour. Students will travel to historic sites of the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. On the first weekend of March, winning entrants will take an active part in the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee and in other events sponsored by the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute.

6 Contest Terms and Conditions Sponsor s decisions will be final on all matters relating to this Contest. Essay Contest winners will be required to execute an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release, and (where legal) a Publicity Release. If a potential winner fails to return such documents within seven days, or the potential winner is found to be ineligible, or if he/she does not comply with the Official Terms and Conditions, then the potential winner will be disqualified, and an alternate winner will be selected, if circumstances permit. Winners will also have to make himself/herself available for media interviews and public relations activities, if appropriate. Except where prohibited by law, the entry from a winning entrant and acceptance of an award constitutes permission for the Sponsor to use the name, photograph, likeness, essay, statements, biographical information, voice, and city and state address of said winners (collectively Publicity Materials ) on a worldwide basis, and in all forms of media, in perpetuity, without further compensation. Essay Contest participants agree that his/her essay or statements may be used in whole or in part and may be paraphrased, amplified, shortened, and/or put into conversational form to meet the requirements of copy, layout and/or script, provided their general sense is not changed, and hereby waive any right to inspect and approve finished Publicity Materials, and winners will not hold Sponsor responsible for any liability resulting from the use of the Publicity Materials. All Publicity Materials developed or used hereunder will be and remain Sponsor s property, and the student winners specifically understand and agree that any copyrightable Publicity Materials will be works made for hire and the Contest winners will retain no ownership rights whatsoever in or to said works. If said Publicity Materials are not considered works made for hire, winning entrants hereby assign all said works to Sponsor. All participants and winners of the Contest also agree to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents from and against any claims, damages or liability due to any injuries, damages, or losses to any person (including death) or property of any kind resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any award or participation in any Contest-related activity or participation in this Contest. The Sponsor may prohibit any entrant from participating in this Contest at its sole discretion if an entrant shows a disregard for these Official Terms and Conditions or acts: (a) in a manner Sponsor determines to be unfair or inequitable, including but not limited to tampering with this Contest or this Contest website; (b) with an intent to annoy, threaten or harass any other entrant or the Sponsor; or (c) in any other disruptive or illegal manner. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this Contest should electronic viruses, other malicious software attacks, unauthorized human intervention, systems malfunctions, failures, difficulties or other causes beyond the control of the Sponsor and its agencies corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper play or conduct of the Contest.

7 LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: In the event of a dispute regarding the identity of an entrant, such entry will be deemed to be made by the authorized account holder of the address submitted at the time of entry. Authorized account holder is deemed as the natural person who is assigned to an address by an Internet access provider, service provider or other online organization that is responsible for assigning e mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e mail address. Neither Sponsor nor its agencies are responsible for lost, late, stolen, illegible, misdirected, incomplete, or non-delivered entries or ; or for lost, interrupted or unavailable satellite, network, server, Internet Service Provider (ISP), Website or other connections availability, accessibility or traffic congestion, or miscommunications, or failed computer, network, telephone, satellite, or cable hardware, software or lines, or technical failure, or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions, or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties, or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic or network, or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry or other information or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information. Neither Sponsor nor its agencies are responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest and assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or tampering with or hacking of website. Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds may be tampering with the entry process or operation of the Contest or website, may be acting in violation of the terms of the website or the Official Rules or may be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to threaten, abuse or harass any other person. Any attempt to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of this Contest is unlawful and subject to legal action by Sponsor or its agents. IN NO EVENT WILL SPONSOR, ITS AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, RELATED COMPANIES OR AGENCIES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS CONTEST, INCLUDING ENTRANTS ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM SAID WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE WEBSITE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.