Elliot Pflueger, a senior at Chimacum High School, is the winner of the League of Women Voters-Jefferson County Essay Contest. Pflueger’s essay “Damning Darkness in Isolation” won …
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Elliot Pflueger, a senior at Chimacum High School, is the winner of the League of Women Voters-Jefferson County Essay Contest. Pflueger’s essay “Damning Darkness in Isolation” won over the six-member judging panel to take the top prize.
The competition is meant to encourage students to think deeply about community engagement and civic responsibility. The first-place win comes with a $150 prize.
Tessa Richardson’s contribution “The World Would be Dark Without News” took second place ($100), while 15-year-old Keanu Morrison took third place ($75) with “The Nature of News.”
All three winners attend Chimacum High School, and their winning essays can be found on the LWVJC website at https://www.lwvwa.org/Jefferson.
This year’s essay topic, “What would your community be like without the news?” was inspired by a recent League of Women Voters-Washington Consensus Study, “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Democracy.”
Noting that between 2005 and 2020, more than one-quarter of the nation’s newspapers closed, leaving 1,800 communities with no local newspapers, the question prompted the students to consider what their lives would be without the news media that serve Jefferson County.
For those interested, the full study can be found at lwvwa.org under the thumbnail Civic Education, or at lwvwa.org/resources/Documents/Studies/LocalNews/Decline%2036.pdf.
This was the first essay contest conducted by the League of Women Voters-Jefferson County in more than a decade, and the organization hopes to continue such efforts in the future by working with all the local high schools and home school programs to encourage active participation in our democracy.
Those interested in more information on next year’s contest can email lwvjeffcowa@gmail.com, and those in the community wishing to encourage student participation in civic endeavors are welcome to contribute to the essay prize money fund or join the nonprofit and volunteer with the Essay Team.
Information on joining the LWVJC or donating to the fund can be found at https://www.lwvwa.org/Jefferson
