EduHam Online Lottery Official Rules

Teachers and legal guardians (“Entrants”) participating in the Hamilton Education Program Online may submit an unlimited number of written student creative pieces in the Hamilton Education Program Online Lottery (“Lottery”). 

The Lottery is open to all teachers and legal guardians of students currently enrolled in grades 6–12 in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Schools, and US Territories. 

Employees of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Hamilton and members of their immediate family or persons living in the same household are not eligible for the Lottery. 

To participate in the Lottery, Entrants will submit written student creative pieces (“Submissions”) subject to the requirements below. For more information on the written creative piece and the implementation of the Program, please review the teacher and student guides.

The requirements for the Submission are as follows: 

• Students may work in groups of up to 3 to create the creative piece. 
• The creative piece must be under 2 pages long using a standard 12-point font with one-inch margins. 
• Submissions should be the creative piece that the student(s) wrote during the implementation of the Program. Submissions that are not based on Founding Era topics will not be considered. 
• Submissions should only be entered into the Competition or Lottery. Eligible competition Submissions will be automatically entered into the lottery upon request of the teacher or legal guardian. Competition submissions that are selected as competition winners will not be entered into the Lottery. 
• The creative piece must not violate any party’s copyrights or trademark rights. 
• Students must enter through a teacher or legal guardian who is at least 23 years old. 

Any submission that fails to meet one or more of the requirements listed above will be ineligible for the Lottery and will not be considered.

Submissions will be judged on the following components as outlined in the Project Rubric in both the teacher and student guides:

• Research: The creative piece must be based on identified primary sources from the Hamilton Education Program Online website or found through independent research and show the students’ understanding of a person, event, or document from the Founding Era. 
• Historical Integrity: The creative piece must capture the meaning and message of the identified primary sources, although artistic license may be used to change certain facts or context. 
• Artistic Expression: The creative piece must provide an original interpretation of the students’ chosen topic through song, rhyme, or prose that conveys to the audience a clear, engaging message. It must be a unique expression of ideas that arises from the students’ inventiveness and creativity in their choice of character or topic, their story-telling, their lyrics, rhyme, or prose, and/or their musical compositions. The student may not copy another work or violate any party’s copyrights or trademark rights.

All Submissions must be submitted using the online form. First-time users of the site will be asked to create a profile before proceeding to the form. Entrants will be asked to submit the following in the application form:

• A roster outlining the number of submissions and the title for each piece (a template will be provided) 
• The state where the student(s) reside(s) 
• The written student creative pieces compiled into one PDF file. 

Once the form is submitted, it will be considered for the Lottery subject to the rules and regulations outlined here. The Application will open on March 8, 2024, and close on February 14, 2025. 

The form can be found in the Dashboard of the Hamilton Education Program Online site. 

There is no purchase necessary to enter or win the Lottery.

After the deadline, a random drawing of Submissions will be conducted by the Gilder Lehrman Institute to select 10 Lottery winners from among all remaining eligible entries received. Odds of winning the lottery depend on the number of entries submitted.

Lottery winners of the Lottery will be notified by email by February 28, 2025 (“Award Date”). Winners will also be listed on the Gilder Lehrman Institute website by the end of March 2025.

Lottery winners will be flown to New York City in April, May, or June 2025 with a designated number of adult chaperones, as outlined below, to attend a Hamilton Education Program theater experience with middle and high school students from the tri-state area, including a matinee performance of Hamilton (“Prize”). 

Lottery winners will have the opportunity to submit questions for consideration at the cast Q&A. 

Travel arrangements and costs (including flights, transportation to/from airport, hotel stay, and a per diem for meals) will be covered for arrival the day before the Prize through the day after the Prize (three days, two nights). If winners intend to stay longer or arrive earlier than the days that are covered by the Program, it will be at their own expense. 

The Sponsor will only provide matinee tickets, make arrangements, and cover the travel cost for winners and their designated chaperones. Should winners travel to New York with additional individuals, those additional individuals will not be able to participate in the Prize activities.

All winners and their chaperones MUST sign and return the required releases, consents, and forms by March 15, 2025. Failure to complete and submit paperwork by this deadline will result in forfeiture of the Prize, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute shall have the option to award the Prize to an alternate winner. The bounceback or return of any prize notification may result in disqualification and an alternate winner may be selected. By entering this Lottery, Entrant accepts and agrees to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which shall be final in all matters. All winners must also abide by the outlined chaperone, housing, and COVID-19 policies.

All winners must comply with Sponsor’s COVID-19 Policy to participate in the Prize activities.

The required number of chaperones per student in grades 9–12 is as follows: 

• 1 student: 1 chaperone 
• 2 students: 2 chaperones 
• 3 students: 2 chaperones 

The required number of chaperones per student in grades 6–8 is as follows: 

• 1 student: 1 chaperone 
• 2 students: 2 chaperones 
• 3 students: 3 chaperones 

Chaperones must be adults over the age of 23. The decision of who will be a chaperone(s) is at the sole discretion of the Entrant and their affiliated school, if any. In all cases, the Entrant who submitted the winning Submission should be prioritized as a chaperone.

All students and chaperones will be housed in a local hotel. In addition to the required student-to-chaperone ratios, students and chaperones who are affiliated with a school will be housed according to each school’s policies as implemented and conveyed to the Sponsor via instruction from the students’ teacher, who must have obtained and recorded approval from the individual students’ parent(s) or legal guardian(s). Students who enter through a Entrant that is not affiliated with a school must be chaperoned by a parent or legal guardian.

March 8, 2024 - Application Form opens 

February 14, 2025 - Deadline for Submissions 

February 28, 2025 - All winners notified 

March 15, 2025 - Required paperwork for Prize Winners due 

Tentatively April, May, or June 2025 - Prize Winners will be brought to New York City for the Prize (exact dates to be provided at a later date). 

If you have any questions, please email hamilton@gilderlehrman.org. 

The Sponsor of the Hamilton Education Program Online is 

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
49 W. 45th Street 
New York, NY 10036

Sponsor reserves the right to postpone the Prize due to the COVID-19 pandemic or for any reason. If the Prize is postponed, winners will be notified by email. Sponsor will award the Prize as soon as practicable. If any of the winners’ schools place restrictions on field trips that prohibit the winners from participating in the Prize on the dates the Prize is offered, those winners may participate in the Prize at a later date, provided that the winners notify Sponsor of the restriction by March 15, 2025.

All information submitted for the Lottery and through the Hamilton Education Program Online website is in compliance with the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s Privacy Policy. A copy of the Privacy Policy can be found here. 

By submitting to the Lottery, the Entrant understands and agrees that all materials submitted in connection with the Hamilton Education Program Online will become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Participation in the Lottery confers non-exclusive irrevocable and perpetual permission and consent, without further compensation or attribution, for Sponsor and/or others authorized by Sponsor to use, edit, adapt, modify, reproduce, print, publish, transmit, distribute, sell, perform, enhance, or display the materials for any purpose, including but not limited to editorial, advertising, trade, commercial, and publicity purposes, in any and all media now in existence or hereinafter created, throughout the world, in perpetuity. Nothing herein shall operate to transfer any person’s copyright interest in any submission materials to Sponsor.

By entering the Lottery, entrants waive all right to, and hold the Sponsor, its employees, independent contractors, agents, members, directors, officers, trustees, Board, donors, and other representatives, harmless from any claim, liability, loss, damage (including punitive, incidental, and consequential damages), or expense (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of or in connection with participation in this Lottery or the acceptance, use, or misuse of any prize. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Sponsor will not be responsible for: (i) late, incomplete, or incorrect entries; (ii) an Entrant’s failure to receive prize notices due to Entrant’s spam, junk e-mail, or other security settings or for Entrants’ provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information; (iii) technical, hardware, or software malfunctions, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, garbled, or delayed electronic communications however caused and even if caused by any of Sponsor’s equipment, software, or other programming associated with or used in this Lottery; (iv) by any human error which may occur in the processing of the entries in this Lottery; (v) or any typographical, technological, or other error in the publishing of the offer, administration of the Lottery, or announcement of the Prize[s]. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify this Lottery in a manner it deems appropriate. In the event of any modification, Entrants will be timely notified by email.