The Georgia Scholastic Press Association congratulates the following winners of the 2024 First Amendment Essay contest:

First Place: Ruby Calkin, Cedar Shoals High School
Second Place: Delia McElhannon, Cedar Shoals High School
Third Place: Amber Ryan, Marietta High School

The winning essays addressed the following prompt in unique ways:

In the First Amendment context, some scholars say it is possible to have a free society in which people have the right to call on the law to defend them against being offended or insulted. Other scholars say that is not possible. What do you think? Make an argument one way or the other.

The panel of judges from UGA’s First Amendment Clinic reviewed the essays and noted how Calkin’s piece stood out from the pool of 36 entrants.

“Ruby uses personal experience to develop a nuanced perspective on First Amendment issues as relates to the prompt,” they wrote. “Her insight about how free speech is lauded as an American value but not always respected; her use of specific salient quotations and case law examples to support her points; plus her recognizing and then correcting what she describes as her own ‘hypocrisy’ about who should have free speech rights made her essay particularly compelling.” This is the second year in a row that Calkin received the first prize in the contest.

Along with receiving monetary prizes for themselves and their publications, the winners will also be recognized during the Spring Workshop and Awards on March 25. The contest is sponsored by the James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Registration for the Spring Awards is now available for the 2024 Spring Workshop and Awards through March 12. Please note: there is a maximum of 250 attendees, and registration will end once that number is reached.