Contest Rules

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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

A PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING

·  The Witherspoon Institute, Inc. (with a business address of 16 Stockton Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540) is hosting a religious liberty essay contest for high school juniors and seniors.

·  The Fidelity Month America 250 Essay Contest (hereinafter, the “Contest”) requires participants to write a nonfiction essay addressing one or more of three questions related to the subject of fidelity to God, family, and country.

·  By submitting an entry to the Contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all Contest rules.
An entry is defined as any essay submitted to the Contest for evaluation by the Judges of the Contest.

·  Final judgment of whether any entrant has met all rules of the Content shall be reserved to the Judges of the Contest.

Eligibility criteria.
Failure to abide by the following rules may disqualify the applicant.

• Any employee of The Witherspoon Institute, Inc. (hereinafter, “Witherspoon”), or any Judge of the Contest, or any immediate family or household members of any of the foregoing, is ineligible to enter the Contest.
• Past winners and finalists are ineligible to enter the Contest.
• The Contest is open to U.S. citizens attending high school as juniors or seniors at public, private, parochial, or home schools in the United States, or at equivalent schools overseas; and to U.S. citizens between the ages of sixteen and twenty enrolled in a high school correspondence/GED program (or the foreign equivalent) in the United States or overseas. 
  • A High School Junior is a student who has graduated from the 10th grade of high school in the United States (or the foreign equivalent) and intends to enroll in the 11th grade of high school (or its equivalent) to begin studies in the fall of 2026.
  • A High School Senior is a student who has graduated from the 11th grade of high school in the United States (or the foreign equivalent) and intends to enroll in the 12th grade of high school (or its equivalent) to begin studies in the fall of 2026.
• No entry fee is required. 
• Each entrant is providing Witherspoon with the copyright of the submitted essay upon its submission. The essay will become the property of Witherspoon and will not be returned. Witherspoon reserves the right to use and publish the essay. Entrants agree to hold harmless and defend Witherspoon from any and all liability that may arise in connection with participation in the Contest. Entrants agree that any submission has not been, and will not be, submitted to any other person or entity for publication.
• Essays should be a work of prose of no more than 1,000 words but must be a minimum of 700 words. Citations and bibliography are not included in the word count.
• All submissions should be accompanied by bibliography used in the essay. The bibliography does not count toward the word count. Any reference style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) is acceptable if it is consistent throughout the document. Failure to include a bibliography with each submission may disqualify the submission.

Submission Style Guides.

• Essays should use 12-point font. It is up to the participant’s discretion which style of font to use, but Times New Roman or Arial is preferred.
• Essays should preferably be type-written and submitted in either .doc or .docx formats, not in .pdf format.
• In order to facilitate a fair and anonymous judging process, essays must not include identifying information about the author.
• Within the online submission portal (but not in the document that contains the essay) the author must provide his or her legal name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and approximate word count.
• Entries should be double-spaced and must include the title and page number on each page, but not the author’s name or any other identifying information of the author. 
• With his or her essay, the entrant must complete, sign, and submit in the online submission portal a signed copy of the Consent Form; if the entrant is under 18 years of age, a parent or legal guardian must sign the Consent Form as well.

Submissions.
Submissions should be made via this webpage: www.fidelitymonth.com/essaycontest.

Originality.
All entries must be original works by the entrant, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party essays, opinions, publications, or any sort of intellectual property without the proper attribution or citation, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published or submitted for publication in any sort of media. Essays must be the original work of the student. Essays may be checked for AI assistance and are disqualified if text generated by AI is detected at any point in the essay or bibliography, or if by any other means it comes to the knowledge of the Judges of the Contest that the essay was composed entirely or in part by AI. AI includes any so-called “artificial intelligence” computer programs, or the equivalent, that employ large-language models (often called “LLMs”) or similar means to generate text; examples of AI include, but are not limited to, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, and any other chatbots, virtual assistants, or the equivalent that may exist now or in the future.

Prizes.
There shall be three cash prizes: a First Prize of $3000, a Second Prize of $2000, and a Third Prize of $1000, in U.S. dollars. These prizes are intended to be used for educational purposes and so that the potential winners can continue pursuing their studies. These funds are intended to be used to cover tuition and fees required to enroll at or attend an eligible educational institution; or to help cover course-related educational expenses, such as fees, books, equipment, and room and board at an educational institution. Prizes may not be transferred, assigned, or substituted.

Deadline.
Essays must be submitted on or before 11:59 p.m. EDT on July 31, 2026 (the “Deadline”) to be eligible for judging. Witherspoon is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, illegible, or incomplete submissions, as well as any technical issues with the entry process or unauthorized or fraudulent interference with the entry process.

Number of Entries.
Each entrant may submit only one essay.

Revisions of Submissions.
No revisions to an essay are accepted after an essay has been submitted.

Judging.
Entries will be judged by a panel of Judges of the Contest (“Judges”) chosen by Witherspoon. The choice of Judges is wholly within the discretion of Witherspoon.  The decisions of the Judges are their own and are final and binding. No appeal may be taken from a Judge’s decision, and any such attempted appeal is grounds for automatic disqualification from the Contest.

Potential Winners.
Decisions of Witherspoon are final. Potential winners will be individually notified of the results by telephone, mail, or e-mail by September 7, 2026.

Tax Consequences.
Cash prizes may have tax consequences for the selected contestant. Witherspoon will not withhold any tax from the price earnings. Contestants should speak with a tax advisor about how the earnings may impact their taxes. 

Amendment to Rules.
Witherspoon reserves the right to amend, change or modify the rules of the Contest in its sole discretion. Any changes or modification will be effective immediately upon posting the revisions on the Contest site, and Contestants waive any right they may have to receive specific notice of such changes or modifications. Witherspoon has the exclusive power to interpret the rules and Witherspoon’s decisions regarding rules interpretations are final and binding on all participants.

Indemnity.
By entering in the contest, participants agree to indemnify The Witherspoon Institute, its employees, agents, and representatives for (i) any claim arising out of the contest and (ii) any claim arising out of use of the prizing.

By entering in the contest, participants agree to indemnify prize providers, contest administrators, and Judges involved in the contest for (i) any claim arising out of the contest and (ii) any claim arising out of use of the prizing.

Void.
This Contest is void where prohibited by law.