The political knowledge deficit of today’s youth could be caused by generally apathetic attitudes or just a lack of resources from which students can learn about politics, said Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science.

Schmidt is combating the knowledge deficit with a Web page contest sponsored by Iowa State. Schmidt said he wants to educate young people about politics using practical means and incentives.

To motivate students to enter the contest, ISU is offering a total of $20,000 in prizes.

High school juniors and seniors and community college students are eligible for the contest. The students must design a Web page and submit it to ISU for judging by Feb. 1.

As another incentive, the teachers of the winning students will receive a cash prize. This will allow teachers to get something out of trying to persuade students to participate, Schmidt said.

The Web pages must display government and politics in an informative and creative way. The winner will receive $5,000 per year for tuition at ISU.

Since more and more of today’s youth are getting online, trying to educate them via the Internet makes sense, Schmidt said.

The judging criteria for the contest is confidential in order to ensure that students won’t make pages that just have what the judges are looking for, Schmidt said. He said he would rather have the students show their creativity.

Schmidt said his observations in the classroom inspired him to hold the contest.

“I began to notice that students were coming in with less and less political information,” he said. “I started to have to spend more time explaining background.”

He said another source of inspiration for this contest was the low voter turnout by young people in the last election.

Schmidt said he feels a voting population of politically uneducated youth is a dangerous thing.

“Government doesn’t work unless people know about government, and if people don’t vote then it allows the lobbyists to control everything,” he said.

For rules and entry forms, people can visit www.admissions.iastate.edu/contest, and anyone who has questions or wants to help sponsor the contest can e-mail [email protected].