Georgetown, Del., Dec. 9, 2008: Six Sussex County students have learned an important lesson in the historic 2008 election – political punditry pays.

Sussex County Council, at its Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, meeting, announced the 2008 winners in the Election Year Scholarship Contest, recognizing the winner and five runners-up with certificates and scholarship prizes.

“It is always encouraging to see so many young folks participating in this exercise of democracy,” said Councilman Vance C. Phillips, who in 2000 suggested the contest as a way to involve children in the democratic process. “They will be the leaders of tomorrow.”

Students ages 18 and younger who are residents of the county and enrolled in public or private schools were eligible to participate and compete for a $300 scholarship as the top prize. To take part, students had to fill out a form on the County’s Web site, and then predict the winners of 23 national, state and local races in the Nov. 4 general election.

One winner and five runners-up were declared, based on their predictions and a tie-breaking question, from a field of more than 500 participants – a record turnout. Those students were recognized with certificates at the County Council meeting Tuesday evening. The winner and five runners-up are:

• Winner Audrey White, 17, a senior at Sussex Tech. Audrey correctly picked 21 of 23 races, and with a guess of 73,000 votes, had the closest predicted Sussex County vote tally for the winner of the Delaware governor’s race (Gov.-elect Jack Markell picked up 45,545 votes in Sussex County). Audrey’s prediction was used to break the tie with the first and second runners-up, earning her the top prize of $300;
• First runner-up Kaitlin Binsted, 17, a senior at Indian River High School. Kaitlin also correctly predicted 21 of 23 races in the contest, with a tie-breaking prediction of 14,398 votes;
• Second runner-up Joshua Betts, 11, a fifth-grader at Shields Elementary School. Joshua also correctly predicted 21 of 23 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 283,462 votes;
• Third runner-up Connor Hitchens, 8, a second-grader at North Georgetown Elementary School. Connor correctly predicted 20 of 23 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 58,500 votes;
• Fourth runner-up Hannah Picconi, 7, a second-grader at Greenwood Mennonite School. Hannah also correctly predicted 20 of 23 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 30,000 votes;
• Fifth runner-up Caitlyn Hitchens, 12, a seventh-grader at the Sussex Academy of Arts & Sciences. Caitlyn also correctly picked 20 of 23 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 64,827 votes.

Eddie Sparpaglione, director of the County’s Information Systems office, which coordinated the online contest, said more than 530 Sussex students participated in the program, the best turnout ever for the Election Year Scholarship Contest. In 2006, the number of participants was approximately 300.

“There was an incredible amount of interest in the 2008 election, with record turnouts at the polls, and I think we saw some of that spill over into the contest,” Mr. Sparpaglione said. “It was an election to remember, certainly from the historical standpoint. For six lucky Sussex County students, it’s an election they’ll remember, too, but maybe for different reasons.”

While the top student won a $300 scholarship prize, the five runners-up were not left empty-handed. Each won a $200 scholarship. All of the scholarships are to be paid upon a student’s enrollment in college or another post-high school educational program. Funding comes through councilmanic grants, as well as from the Griffin & Hackett law firm.

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