Georgetown, Del., Dec. 7, 2010: Forget the political insiders and talking heads of the press, cable TV and the Internet. Sussex County has its own pundits who can see the political future. And that prognosticating prowess is paying off.

Sussex County Council, at its Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, meeting, announced the 2010 winners of the Election Year Scholarship Contest, recognizing six children – one grand prize recipient and five runners-up – with plaques and scholarship prizes for their winning efforts.

“Predicting politics is never an easy thing to do, but these six young men and women were able to pull it off and beat many of the so-called experts,” Council President Vance Phillips said. ”That’s an impressive accomplishment, and we congratulate them on their awards.”

Students ages 18 and younger who are residents of the county and enrolled in public or private schools were invited to participate in the contest, which serves as a lesson about the democratic process. To take part, students had to fill out a form on the County’s Web site, and then predict the winners of 22 national, state and local races in the Nov. 2 general election. To break a tie, each entrant was asked to predict the total number of votes the winner of the U.S. Senate race would receive from Sussex County. U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, who won the election, collected 28,019 votes from Sussex County.

Students competed for one $200 scholarship prize, and five $100 runner-up prizes.

One winner and five runners-up were declared, based on their predictions and the tie-breaking question, from a field of nearly 500 participants. Those students were recognized at the County Council meeting Tuesday morning. The winner and five runners-up are:

• Winner Jordyn Tonelli, 12, a seventh-grader at Laurel Middle School. Jordyn correctly picked 21 of 22 races, the only entrant to guess that many correctly;
• First runner-up Madison Hill, 12, a seventh-grader at Delmar Middle School. Madison correctly predicted 20 of 22 races;
• Second runner-up Rebecca Guyer, 17, a senior Milford High School. Rebecca correctly predicted 19 of 22 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 3,200 votes from Sussex County for the U.S. Senate race winner;
• Third runner-up Easton Ball, 10, a fifth-grader at Milton Elementary School. Easton also correctly predicted 19 of 22 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 1,543 votes;
• Fourth runner-up Kevin Vandeyar, 13, an eighth-grader Laurel Middle School. Kevin also correctly predicted 19 of 22 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 900 votes;
• Fifth runner-up Jake Jones, 17, a senior at Sussex Technical High School. Jake correctly predicted 18 of 22 races, with a tie-breaking prediction of 25,647 votes to capture the last prize.

County Administrator David Baker said participation for this year’s Election Contest was high once again, following a record number of entries in the 2008 presidential year. That year, more than 530 students took part, the most since the contest began in 2000. This year, the contest collected 477 entries, the second-highest total in its 10-year run.

“That’s a terrific turnout for a mid-term election,” Mr. Baker said. “But this isn’t about the numbers. It’s about involving young people in the democratic process. We hope this experience has helped better prepare all of our participants for the real civic duty that awaits them in a few years – the right to vote.”

While the top student won a $200 scholarship prize, the five runners-up were not left empty handed. Each won a $100 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 Moore & Rutt law firm.

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