The Schubmehl-Prein Prize for

Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing

August 1, 2010 Announcement: Winners of the 2010 competition.

The winners of the 2010 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing are:

First Place: Tess Oetter, Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale, Illinois

Second Place: Ben Lopez, Damien High School, La Verne, California

Third Place: James Thornton, Damien High School, La Verne, California

Congratulations to this year's winners. And thanks to all of the students who entered this year's competition, and to the teachers and parents who encouraged them. Lastly, see the links below to check out the published versions of last year's winning essays.

The 2010 Competition. The Schubmehl-Prein Prize for best analysis of the social impact of a particular aspect of computing technology will be awarded to a student who is a high school junior in academic year 2009-2010. The first-place award is $1,000, the second-place award is $500, and the third-place award is $250. Winning entries are traditionally published in the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computers and Society online magazine.

Topic for the 2010 Competition. The topic for the 2010 competition is – What Should Individual Privacy Rights Be With Respect To Services Such As “Street View”?

Services such as Google’s Street View provide an important and useful service to many people; what should individual privacy rights be with respect to such services?

Eligibility. Students who are in their junior year of high school in the 2009-2010 academic year and in the top one-fifth of their class are eligible to enter. A letter from the school principal or other appropriate administrator certifying the junior standing and academic rank should be submitted with the essay.

Entry Guidelines. An essay should be organized as a title page, main body, and list of references. The maximum length of length of the main body of an essay should be limited to approximately 2,500 words, or ten pages. A figure or table taking one page should be counted as 250 words. Submissions that are substantially shorter, in the range of five pages or less, generally are not competitive against longer submissions. Potential entrants are encouraged to read the winning essays from recent years prior to preparing an entry. The essay must be the original work of the entrant. All sources and quotations must be appropriately documented. The language for the competition is English.

Judging. The essays will be judged for accuracy of technical concepts, quality and clarity of expression, logic of argument, originality of ideas, and conformance to the entry guidelines. The decision of the judges is final.

Timeline. Essays should be submitted by midnight, Eastern Standard Time, 31 May 2010. Submit your entry as an attachment to an email to essay@cse.nd.edu. Your email should contain contact information for a school administrator who can verify eligibility. If the attachment is not in standard word or pdf format, then the email should identify the format. Within a few days after the deadline, you should receive an acknowledgement that the essay was received. The target date for announcement of the judging results is August 1, 2010. The competition web page is www.cse.nd.edu/EssayContest and updated details are announced there.

The Award. The prize for this essay competition is made possible by the endowment for the Schubmehl-Prein Chair at the University of Notre Dame.

Winners of the 2009 competition.

The winners of the 2009 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing are:

First Place: Katherine Heit, Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, Overland Park, Kansas (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Second Place: Danielle Harris, Mayfield Senior School, Pasadena, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Third Place: David Purington, Damien High School, La Verne, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Honorable Mention: Bryan Dongre, Brookfield Central High School, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Honorable Mention: Erica Smith, St. Agnes Academy, Houston, Texas

The 2009 competition attracted a number of essays that strongly engaged with the topic – What are the potential social and ethical implications of the “$100 laptop”? In addition to First, Second and Third Place winners, this year two Honorable Mention winners were also selected. Winning entries again come from all across the country, representing schools in Kansas, California, Wisconsin, and Texas. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. Thanks to all of the students who prepared an entry to the competition. And thanks as well to all of the teachers and school counselors who worked with all of the students.

Winners of the 2008 competition.

The winners of the 2008 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing are:

First place: Sean Hernandez, Damien High School, California

Second place: Greg Rodarte, Damien High School, California

Third place: Michael Albani, De La Salle Collegiate High School, Michigan

The topic for the 2008 competition was What should be the ethical and legal responsibilities of the providers and the users of resources such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs? This year’s competition had a most unusual result in relation to last year’s competition. The first- and second-place winners again came from Damien High School in California, and the third-place winner again came from a Michigan high school, although a different one than last year. The essays this year expressed a strong theme of personal responsibility in the use of social networking sites. Thanks to all of the students who worked to prepare an entry to the competition, and thanks as well to all of the teachers who worked with them.

Winners of the 2007 competition.

The winners of the 2007 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing are:

First place: David Martinez, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Second place: Tunlewa Soyinka, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Third place: Maria Lee, Hillsdale Academy, Michigan (link to published essay in Computers and Society))

The topic for the 2007 competition was, What is needed to secure the software that controls our nation's critical infrastructure? Entries to the 2007 competition again came from throughout the United States, including schools in Indiana, California, Michigan, New York, and Florida. As happened in the first year, the top two prizes went to students at the same school. This year it is Damien High School in California, whereas in 2005 it was Greenwood High School in Indiana. As is the case each year, there were a number of good entries and a broad variety approaches taken by the authors. We thank all of the students who entered, and all of the teachers who worked with them, for their time and effort.

Winners of the 2006 competition.

The winners of the 2006 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing, appearing in the December 2006 issue of ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, are:

First place: David Amurao, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Second place: Joshua Gaines, West Branch High School, Ohio (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Third place: Alexa Linton, Central Bucks High School, Pennsylvania (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

The topic for the 2006 competition was, Is the Computing Technology for Electronic Voting Secure and Reliable Enough for National Use?

Entries to the 2006 competition came from throughout the United States, including high schools in Arizona, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The judging was quite difficult, due to the number of good entries and the diverse approaches taken by the authors. We thank all of the students who entered, and all of the teachers who worked with them, for their time and effort.

Winners of the 2005 competition.

The winners of the 2005 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing, appearing in the March 2005 issue of ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, are:

First Place – Jennifer Fujawa, Greenwood High School, Indiana (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Second Place – Amanda Woodcock, Greenwood High School, Indiana (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

Third Place – Patrick Kosciuk, Lakeshore High School, Michigan (link to published essay in Computers and Society)

The topic for the 2005 competition was The Effects on Individual Privacy and National Security of Adopting a Biometric National Identity Card in the United States. Congratulations to each of Jennifer, Amanda, and Patrick! And thanks to all those who submitted entries to this year’s competition. Revised versions of the winning essays have appeared in ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, a publication of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computers and Society. Links to essays appear above. Information about the Computers and Society magazine can be found here.