TOWNSEND — Area high school students are invited to participate in this year’s Voice of Democracy Patriotic Audio Essay Competition, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Auxiliary. This year’s theme is “What a Veteran Taught Me About America,” with a national grand prize of a $35,000 scholarship.
Townsend VFW Post 6538 and Pepperell VFW Post 3291 and their Auxiliaries are co-sponsoring the competition at North Middlesex Regional, Nashoba Valley Technical, Groton-Dunstable Regional, Ayer Shirley Regional and Lunenburg high schools.
The competition is open to students in grades nine through 12 who are younger than 20. U.S. citizenship is not required, but entrants must be lawful U.S. permanent residents or have applied for permanent residence, with an application that has not been denied. Students attending public, private or parochial schools, or an approved home-school program, may enter.
The Townsend-Pepperell winner will receive $150, with second place receiving $100 and third place $50. The first-place entry will advance to the District 15 competition, with additional local entries advancing for every 15 entries received. The District 15 winner will advance to the state competition.
At the state level, the top five winners will receive scholarships and cash prizes. The Massachusetts winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship, $500 and a trip to the Founding Forward Spirit of America Leadership Program in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The four-day residential program includes activities focused on the first principles of freedom, including mock congressional debates, a free-enterprise challenge and visits to historical sites. The Massachusetts winner will also receive a portion of $171,000 in national scholarship money and compete against winners from the other 53 VFW departments.
To enter, students must write an essay on “What a Veteran Taught Me About America” and record themselves reading it onto a flash drive or other electronic device. The recording must be three to five minutes long and contain only the student reading the script. Music, singing, poetry and sound effects are not permitted.
Entries will be judged on originality (35 points), content (30 points) and delivery (35 points), with judges considering imagination and human interest, organization and clarity of ideas, and clear, credible delivery. Inappropriate use of ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools is not permitted.
Entries must be submitted anonymously. Students may not identify themselves, their school, city, state, race or country of origin in the essay or recording. References to personal background or experience, including sex and religion, should also be avoided.
Students should label their recording and typed essay to avoid confusion over ownership. The student’s name, address and school should be listed on the 2026-2027 Official Voice of Democracy Entry Form, which must accompany the typed essay. Additional rules are included on the student information sheet.
All entries must include the recording, a typed copy of the script and a completed official entry form and must be submitted to a Townsend or Pepperell Voice of Democracy chairman by Saturday, Oct. 31.
Entries may be submitted to Townsend VFW Post Chairman Paul Martin, Townsend VFW Auxiliary Chairman Betty Mae Tenney, Pepperell VFW Post Chairman Robert Gallager or Pepperell VFW Auxiliary Chairman James Straitiff.
For more information or to arrange submission, contact Betty Mae Tenney at 978-597-5644, extension 9, or 978-665-4026 (work).
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