July 5, 2010, San Francisco, CA—The Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.) Grand Lodge announced the 2010 winners of its annual National Essay Contest held across the country. As judged by an independent panel of educators, Gerry Zhang of the Los Angeles Lodge was awarded the first place prize of $1,000, followed by Evaline Cheng of the Peninsula Lodge, second place winner of $750 and Mandy Zhang of Portland Lodge, third place winner of $500.

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Thirteen Lodges across the country hosted the 153 high school students in this challenging and competitive contest. Other merit award winners of $100 each were (listed alphabetically):

Minbo Bai, Salinas; Joleen Chen, Orange County; Peter Feng, Houston; Christopher Fu, Washington DC; Esther Huang, Oakland; Karen Leung, Los Angeles; Kevin Liou, Albuquerque; Brian Qiu, San Francisco; Jason Yang, Gr. San Gabriel Valley; Bobby Zhen, San Antonio

This year’s topic on which students were to write a maximum 500-word essay was:

"The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States, and is required by the Constitution to take place every 10 years.

Results from the previous Census indicated that not all residents participated in the 2000 Census; in fact, many experts examining the results determined that a significant segment of the Chinese population did not comply with the law and chose not to participate in the Census.

What factors do you believe explain this phenomenon? How would you encourage more Chinese to participate in the 2010 Census? What benefits, if any, do you think would accrue to the nation generally, and to the Chinese community in particular, by an increased participation in the Census?"