Smart Family Legislative Writing Contest for High School Students

Physical health, mental health and well-being, bullying and cyber-harassment, sexual and explicit imagery and content, and hacking and identity theft are all examples of ways technology and social media can impact youth. 

​Students are asked to draft their own proposal for new legislation that could be implemented in Texas. This proposal should target a specific health or safety concern, provide at least one example of how or why technology or social media has contributed to that health or safety issue, and 2-3 recommendations for how our government and communities could better address this health or safety issue. While proposals should specifically address the impact on minors (those under the age of 18) in particular, proposals are welcome to include recommendations that would address a wider range of people as well.

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Individuals or teams of no more than 4 students should submit proposals as follows:

• Include names, ages, school, and an email address for each student

• Submit proposals to info@smart-families.org by April 11th at 3:00 pm

• Written proposals (for instance, a Word document) should be 750-1000 words

• Project proposals (for instance, a PowerPoint presentation) should be 4-6 slides​

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All proposals should include citations and a bibliography for any research that supports or influenced their recommendations.

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Templates are provided as a basic framework but submissions do not need to follow the template exactly. Please contact info@smart-families.org with any questions.

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Please submit all proposals by April 11th to

info@smart-families.org