Earlier in December, Veteran’s of Foreign Wars (VFW) San Francisco Peaks VFW Post 1709, awarded $1,100 in scholarships to five middle and high school students.
Each year, in early April, the National Commander of the VFW chooses a topic for the 3-5-minute Voice of Democracy speech and the 300 to 400 word Patriot’s Pen essay. This years Voice of Democracy topic was “Is America today our forefathers vision?” The topic for the Patriot’s Pen essay was “My voice in America’s democracy.”
In mid-August, the applications, rules and topics are distributed to all the different schools in Flagstaff. The entries are due to the local VFW Post by midnight, October 31. The Post judging team each read and score all the entries. Discussion ensues and the top three entries in each category are decided upon. Depending on the number of entries, first, second and third place finishers may be forwarded to the VFW District for additional awards.
The first place winner in each category are forwarded to the state VFW for additional judging and scoring. All winners going to the state VFW are awarded cash prizes, with the top cash prize being $1,000.
The top winner in each category at the state VFW advance to the VFW National level for more judging and cash awards. Last year, a young lady from Scottsdale won the top national prize of $35,000 for her Voice of Democracy speech.
VFW Post 1709 Patriot’s Pen Winners were:
VFW Post 1709 Voice of Democracy Winners were:
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