Winner receives a $10,000 cash award. The winner and her/his family are invited to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston to accept her/his award and participate in Profile in Courage Award events from May 18 - 20, 2019. Travel and lodging expenses will be paid for the trip to Boston for the winning student and her/his parents.

Second-place winner receives $3,000.
Five finalists receive $1,000 each.
Eight semifinalists receive $100 each.
Ten students receive honorable mentions.

The nominating teacher of the first-place winner is also invited to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to receive the John F. Kennedy Public Service Grant in the amount of $500 for school projects encouraging student leadership and civic engagement. Travel and lodging expenses will be paid for the trip to Boston.

Open to United States high school students in grades nine through twelve attending public, private, parochial, or home schools; U.S. students under the age of twenty enrolled in a high school correspondence/GED program in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or the U.S. territories; and U.S. citizens attending schools overseas. Past winners and finalists are not eligible to participate.

Essays must describe an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F. Kennedy was born. Essays can be no more than 1,000 words but must be a minimum of 700 words.Essays must have a minimum of five sources.