Center for Alcohol Policy 21st Amendment Essay Contest

Contest Overview

2008 marks the 75th Anniversary of the passage of the 21st Amendment which repealed Prohibition and gave the right to regulate alcohol to the states. The Center for Alcohol Policy as part of its mission to educate the public about the importance of state based regulation of alcohol, believes that this is a great opportunity for all Americans to reflect on how alcohol is regulated in the United States.

As such, the Center for Alcohol Policy believes that America would be well served by an annual essay contest to reflect on the importance of the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution. This contest will be repeated every year.

This essay contest is intended to solicit a wide range of topics related to issues raised by the 21st Amendment. Submissions can be a narrow study of alcohol case law related to alcohol regulation or a more wide ranging study of other aspects such as the creation of state and local control of alcohol, the improvement in tax collection, the reduction of black markets, the prevention of unsafe/unregulated production, the removal of organized crime, or the importance of having citizens unite to amend the constitution to address a sensitive political issue. The Center for Alcohol Policy looks forward to highlighting and publicizing these and other varied and important achievements of the 21st Amendment through this competition.

Since the repeal of Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) and during the past 75 years, the states have created various alcohol regulatory systems to help address local concerns such as the three-tier system (including brewers, distributors and retailers), dry jurisdictions, hours of sale, alcohol impact areas, credit prohibition, and other regulations related to alcohol.

The Center for Alcohol Policy hopes that this essay contest will foster a wide ranging discussion, examination and collection of the many important achievements of the 21st Amendment on America. By helping to shine a spotlight on the modern relevance of the 21st Amendment, contest entrants will help the Center for Alcohol Policy publicize the importance of effective state alcohol regulation and the vibrancy of the United States Constitution.

The Center for Alcohol Policy is a 501 C (3) organization previously named the National Beer Wholesalers Education Foundation. Its mission is to educate policy makers, regulators and the public about alcohol, its uniqueness and its regulation. By conducting sound research and implementing initiatives that will maintain the appropriate state-based regulation of alcohol, the Center promotes safe and responsible consumption of alcohol, fights underage drinking and drunk driving and informs the key entities and the public about the effects of alcohol consumption. More information can be found at www.centerforalcoholpolicy.org.

Contest Guidelines

Description
The Center for Alcohol Policy is sponsoring a writing contest for all interested writers over the age of 21 as of November 17, 2008. The subject of the contest is:


Award
Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place winners in the amount of $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. Award will be provided in November 2008.

The winning essays will be posted indefinitely to the Center for Alcohol Policy and 21st Amendent Essay websites and attempts to further highlight these winning entries will be undertaken.

Deadline
Deadline for submissions is October 17, 2008. Essay submissions and the required Contest Entry Form must be emailed or postmarked by October 17, 2008, 11:59pm EST. Papers postmarked/emailed after this date will not be considered. Papers may be emailed to essay@CenterforAlcoholPolicy.org. Papers may also be sent as a hard copy to:

Center for Alcohol Policy
Attn: 21st Amendment Essay Contest
P.O. Box 908
Alexandria, VA 22314-9998

Winners will be announced November 17, 2008.

Eligibility
The contest is open to all over the age of 21. Students, academics, practicing attorneys, law enforcement officials, policy makers, and members of the general public are encouraged to submit essays.

No employees or relatives of individuals working for the Center for Alcohol Policy, the National Beer Wholesalers Association or its leadership are eligible to submit entries for this contest. Any interested person working for a government entity must certify their ability to comply with appropriate ethics laws to enter and eligibility to win this contest prior to submitting an essay.

Format and Content
For this inaugural essay contest, a wide range of essay formats are eligible and encouraged. These can be formal law review article submissions to less structured, non academic essays. The essay should be submitted double spaced with at least 12-point font in Times New Roman format and should not exceed twenty five (25) pages in length, exclusive of endnotes. Submissions that have recently been published or accepted for publication elsewhere may be considered only if the author has secured the consent of the other journal for the Center for Alcohol Policy to post the winning publication on its website with an appropriate note about the other publication. All entries become the property of Center for Alcohol Policy.

Judging Process
All Submissions will go through an initial screening process. All eligible submissions will be reviewed by three screening judges. Finalists from this process will then be given to a panel of judges who will judge these essays on their analysis of the 21st Amendment, the depth of this analysis, the readiness of the essay for publication, the quality of their writing, the originality of the topic and the analysis used, the thoroughness of the research and its overall ability to creatively and effectively highlight the importance of the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Should you have any further questions please feel free to contact us at (703) 519-3090 or info@centerforalcoholpolicy.org.