Essay contest winners named

The New York Press Association Foundation will award a $10,000 prize to a senior from West Hempstead High School.

Melissa J. Bykofsky is the winner of a statewide First Amendment essay contest for 11th- and 12th-grade high school students in New York State. Bykofsky submitted her entry into the first-round regional competition to the Herald Community Newspapers, based in Garden City. She then competed against 40 other regional winners to earn the statewide first-place prize.

The second-place winner was Giselle Jimenez, a senior at The Bronx High School of Science, and third place was awarded to Kathryn McNamara, a senior at Naples Central School.

Students were asked to interpret the First Amendment in their essays and to discuss the role it plays in current-day American life. A total of 41 newspapers, including Bee Group Newspapers, forwarded local winners to NYPA to be entered into the statewide competition.