Regional competition for the 2024 National Civics Bee is coming close to home.
Planned for April 20, 2024, at Paducah’s Carson Center, the educational challenge stems from an initiative by The Civic Trust of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. And it’s aimed at encouraging more of America’s youth to engage in civics, while contributing to their communities.
Open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in public, private and home schools, this regional bracket involves News Edge counties like Caldwell, Christian, Hopkins, Lyon, Todd and Trigg counties, but also includes Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Graves, Henderson, Hickman, Livingston, Logan, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Muhlenberg, Union and Webster counties.
In essence, it’s a large pool of middle school students.
The application requires a 500-word essay due before midnight January 9, 2024, and must be submitted through an online link: https://bit.ly/3MLa5PN.
The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce was selected by the U.S. Chamber to host this regional competition.
Once the application portal closes, essays will be reviewed by a panel of judges, and the top 20 students in Western Kentucky will be selected to test their civics knowledge and compete in the regional — through the live quiz competition in Paducah.
Finalists and winners will receive various prizes, including $500 cash for the first-place student. The top three winners at the regional will then have a chance to compete against other middle school students from across the Commonwealth at the state level competition in Louisville.
