Veterans of Foreign Wars:
Voice of Democracy
2009-2010 Theme
"Does America Still Have Heroes?”
The Voice of Democracy, is an audio essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. The annual contest,
which is designed to foster patriotism, allows students the opportunity to voice their opinion in a three to five minute
essay based on an annual theme.
Created in 1947, the scholarship program annually provides more than $3 million in scholarships. Each Department's
first-place winner receives an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., plus the opportunity to compete for national
scholarships. The first-place national winner receives a $25,000 scholarship.
All national scholarships are paid directly to the American university, college or vocational/technical school as
selected by the recipient. All scholarship funding is held at National Headquarters in escrow for 10 years from high
school graduation. The funds, which are disbursed as needed, may be used for tuition, books, laboratory fees or other
items relating specifically to the student's formal education. Clothing, room and board and pocket money are not
considered authorized expenditures.
YOUR TASK:
Rough Draft #1: Thursday October 7
Rough Draft #2: Wednesday October 14
Peer Review and Practice Speeches: Tuesday October 20
Final Draft with taped presentation: Thursday October 29
The recorded essay must not be less than three minutes, nor longer than five minutes.
The essay must be recorded in the participant’s own voice. The essay read by the student should be the only sound
on the cassette tape. The essay must be spoken in English, not sung. No background sounds–music, sound effects,
echo, etc. will be allowed.
Participants cannot identify themselves, their school, city or state within their written essay or their recorded
audiocassette tape. However, it is important that you label your cassette tape and label the copy of your written
essay to help alleviate any confusion over the ownership of the entry.
All entries must be on a good-quality standard size audiocassette and accompanied by the typewritten essay. All
participants are judged based solely on their audiotape presentation. The judging criteria does not consider the
quality of the written essay’s spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, neatness, grammar, etc... Just your English
teacher looks for those issues!!!!
***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: USE A COMPUTER TO RECORD SPEECH