Essay Prize: Parade Seats For D.C. Kids

Some lucky and literary D.C. middle and high school students could write their own ticket to a front row seat at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural parade.

More than 100 students will be selected to sit in a viewing stand in front of the White House for the Jan. 20 parade based on the best 500-word essays that answer the question: "How can I contribute to my neighborhood through community service?"

The students must be District residents who attend public or private school in the city, said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for the inaugural committee. The essays must be submitted by a parent or legal guardian who also resides in the District. Winners will be selected by the inaugural committee. They will receive three tickets, allowing them to bring two guests to the viewing stand next to one reserved for Obama and other dignitaries.

"This is prime real estate, I guess you could say," Griffis said.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee wanted to emphasize Obama's commitment to community service and to the District, Griffis said. "It's . . . to say 'thank you' to the people of Washington," he said.

Michelle Obama, wife of the president-elect, has said that she and her family want to be a part of the D.C. community just as they have been in Chicago. Daughters Malia and Sasha start at Sidwell Friends School tomorrow.

Parents and guardians may enter their children's essays at http://www.pic2009.org/dcstudentessay. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Jan. 11.

Edward Doxen, 16, a junior at McKinley Technology High School, could barely contain his excitement yesterday. "How do I enter?" he asked. "When is the essay due?"

Doxen, a member of the D.C. Youth Advisory Council, said Obama's gesture and the topic of giving back to neighborhoods were meaningful. "It's good that he's trying to touch base," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity. . . . A lot of us wouldn't get to go."

The contest follows a trend of the inaugural committee's focus on youth and a literary approach to the event.

There already is an online essay contest for writers of any age to pen something about what the inauguration means to them. Ten winners will receive a package deal that includes airfare, lodging and tickets to an official ball, the parade and the swearing-in.

The swearing-in will include a reading by poet and District native Elizabeth Alexander.

The inaugural committee has also planned a free concert for young people at the Verizon Center on the eve of the inauguration. No word on how to get tickets.

Tickets for other bleacher seats along the parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue may go on sale next week, Griffis said, although he had no details about how many will be available or how much they will cost. In the past, ticket prices have ranged from $15 to $150.

The National Park Service and inaugural committee are limited to building bleachers that can accommodate about 8,700 people, down from 20,000 in 2005 for President Bush's second inaugural parade, after a ruling by a federal judge.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled in favor of the ANSWER Coalition, an antiwar group that argued that the seats turned the parade into a private affair. In 2005, spectators on the sidewalk complained that they could not see around the bleachers.