Bob Jones University student to be honored in Philadelphia as national winner of Constituting America’s ‘We the People 9*17’ contest

PHILADELPHIA & GREENVILLE, SC – September 8, 2011 –  A college junior from Greenville, South Carolina will be honored in Philadelphia Sep. 17 as a national winner of Constituting America’s “We the People 9*17” contest.

Jonathan Ludwig, 20, a junior at Bob Jones University, took top honors in the “Best Speech – College Division” of the national contest, which gives prizes and scholarships to students from kindergarten through college for creating original songs, short films, public service announcements, speeches, poems, drawings and essays inspired by the U.S. Constitution.

Born in Ankara, Turkey while his American parents were living abroad, Ludwig – who plans to pursue a career  in criminal law – will join 13 other national winners in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, where actress and radio show host Janine Turner (Friday Night Lights, Northern Exposure) will present the winners with their prizes and the winning entries will be displayed. [To view winning contest entries and winners’ bios, please visit www.constitutingamerica.org.]

“This year’s contest winners truly represent the hope and promise of America’s future,” said actress and author Janine Turner, who founded Constituting America in 2010 with co-chair Cathy Gillespie, former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Joe Barton and a past commissioner on the President’s Commission on White House Fellows. “Constituting America’s mission is to positively affect the youth culture of kids in kindergarten through college, promoting an appreciation and understanding of America’s founding principles, and the contest is a fun and educational way of doing that.”

In addition to displaying the contest winners’ prize-winning entries, the Constitution Day celebration will also spotlight Constituting America’s other programs and educational resources, including a 45-minute “We the People 9.17” documentary featuring kids talking to kids about the U.S. Constitution, 13-year-old National Youth Director Juliette Turner’s Constitutional Fun Facts Essays for Kids explaining the Constitution and “Analyzing the Constitution” – a 90-day online forum whereby more than two dozen of the country’s most sought after constitutional scholars, historians, authors and legal experts read, analyzed and discussed the Constitution with citizens from across the nation on the foundation website (www.constitutingamerica.org). Analyzing the Constitution follows Constituting America’s 2010 90-day forum focused on the Federalist Papers, for which Turner and Gillespie wrote 90 essays exploring the Federalist Papers and their relevancy in detail.

The Constituting America website also offers links to complete copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and a variety of other educational resources such as Patriot Clubs. The National Constitution Center, meanwhile, has also launched a special website aimed at helping educators incorporate Constitution Day into their classroom learning, with numerous resources available at www.constitutioncenter.org/constitutionday.

Constituting America’s mission is to utilize the culture and multi-media outreach such as music, film, internet, and social media to reach, educate and inform America’s adults and students about the importance of the U.S. Constitution and the foundation it sets forth regarding our freedoms and rights. Federal legislation requires educational institutions that receive federal funds to hold educational programs about the Constitution each September 17, Constitution Day. Constituting America encourages schools to utilize its fun and educational documentary film to fulfill their federal mandate for Constitution Day.