“Thanks to my history teacher, Mr. Lopez for encouraging us in class to discuss and debate about important things, like the right to vote.”

Idaho Students Awarded in Statewide Law Day Podcast Contest

The Idaho Law Foundation’s Law Related Education Program is proud to announce that three Idaho students were selected for prizes in the Foundation’s annual Law Day Podcast Contest. Student podcasts explored the 2020 Law Day theme celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment. Podcasts focused on a quote from Susan B. Anthony: “Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.” The prompt asked students to examine the importance of voting rights.

The top three student entries include:

• First Place: Elinor Smith, Borah High School, Boise. Elinor is a senior. Her podcast focused on the importance of youth voting. She said she spent over 3 months working on her podcast and that “the best thing about making a podcast or doing any sort of journalism is that you don’t have to know anything about anything. The host puts themselves in the place of the listener and learns new things to share with listeners.” Next year Elinor will attend the University of Montana where she plans to study journalism.
• Second Place: Sophia Willmorth, One Stone, Boise. Sophia is a ninth grader. Her podcast explored what voters’ rights have looked like throughout the history of the United States. She said, “I decided that I wanted to answer the prompt by retelling the stories of some of the original suffragettes that I felt were integral to the passing of the 19th Amendment.”
• Third Place: Marilla Story, Logos School, Moscow. Marilla is a tenth grader. She decided to create her podcast because her history class was studying voting rights and she found the topic fascinating and important. She also loved being able to incorporate music from the time period into her submission.

 

The Law Day Podcast Contest is open to Idaho high school students. Entrants submitted 5 to 10-minute audio podcasts and could create their podcast individually or in groups of 2 or 3. The contest was sponsored by the Richard C. Fields American Inn of Court. Their sponsorship allowed the Foundation to award the top three entries prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250, respectively.

Podcasts were critiqued by a panel of judges that included educators and attorneys. The judges scored the submissions on content, delivery, and production. One of the judges, Cindy Wilson said, “Creative educational activities like this contest provide the best opportunities for young people to learn how to have their voices heard in their communities. That’s exactly what we saw in the excellent entries we judged; our future is in good hands with these students.”

The Idaho Law Foundation would like to thank our sponsors and judges for their support of the Podcast Contest. We appreciate their dedication to advancing civic education in our state.

The entries can be accessed from the Law Foundation’s website at idaholawfoundation.org. For more information about the Law Day Podcast Contest, contact Carey Shoufler, Idaho Law Foundation Law Related Education Director, at cshoufler@isb.idaho.gov.

About Law Day: Established in 1958 by President Eisenhower, Law Day is celebrated each year on May 1 to help Americans better understand the law and our legal system. Each year, Law Day is centered on a different theme to spotlight an important aspect of the law.

About the Idaho Law Foundation’s Law Related Education Program: Founded in 1974, the Idaho Law Foundation serves as the charitable arm of the Idaho State Bar. As a program of the Idaho Law Foundation, Law Related Education is a civic education program that works to educate the public about the role of law in a democratic society.