Personal Web sites are becoming more common, but not all of them are worth $20,000.

That’s how much money one Web site could be worth with the “Dr. Politics Excellent American High School Government World Wide Web Design Contest.”

Sue Eveland, program coordinator for admissions at Iowa State, said juniors and seniors in high school can create Web sites featuring American government or politics that will be judged in the contest.

The student with the winning design will receive a $20,000 scholarship to ISU, with $10,000 scholarships going to each of two runners-up.

The idea for the contest, which was held for the first time last year, came from Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science.

“I am pretty upset at how little interest there is in politics with young people,” said Schmidt, also known as “Dr. Politics” on WOI 640 AM/90.1 FM radio. “The amount of information high school and even college students know about politics and the accuracy of that information is very low.

“So, the question was ‘How do we get people involved?'” Schmidt said. “The World Wide Web is a good way to get students to think about government. The medium itself is really interesting.”

Schmidt decided to invite high school students to create a Web site about why government is important.

“The students are judged on originality, creativity and Web design ability,” Eveland said.

The judging panel consists of ISU professors, admissions and financial aid officials and a high school teacher from the Ames area. A judge also will be provided by Wadsworth, the publisher of Schmidt’s government and politics textbook and one of the contest’s sponsors.

Schmidt said the most exciting part of this year’s contest is having two new sponsors.

One of them, Conversa of Redwood, Wash., is providing state-of-the-art Web site designing software to winners.

Andy Ruff, freshman in computer science, won last year’s contest.

“I think young people being informed about government and politics is extremely important,” Ruff said. “Government is what helps us to run the country, and students need to be active in it.”

Schmidt echoed that statement. “High school students will have to run for office someday, so they need to learn about government,” he said.

Ruff said even though he had experience in Web site design before he entered the contest, he would advise any interested student to enter.

“I would definitely recommend it to anyone who’s willing to try,” he said.

Students are allowed to have help in creating their Web sites, but the scholarship only can be awarded to one student.

Schmidt said the popularity of the contest is growing quickly.

“I’ve had several students who are sophomores in high school call and beg me to let them enter this contest, even though we really only accept juniors and seniors,” he said.

Information about the high school Web design scholarship contest can be found at www.admissions.iastate.edu/contest. Entries are due by Feb. 1, and winners will be announced March 1.