Established in 1947, the Voice of Democracy audio-essay competition is open to high school students in 9th through 12th grades, with the national first place prize scholarship totaling $35,000 and the first-place winner from each VFW Department (State) being awarded a scholarship of at least $1,000.  The first place Department (State) winners receive a special Parade of Winners trip to Washington, D.C., sponsored by Twisted X, where they compete for more than $170,000 in national scholarship awards. Nearly 22,000 high school students worldwide compete in the competition each year.

The 2024-25Voice of Democracy scholarship competition theme is:

"Is America Today Our Forefathers’ Vision?”

Before submitting your essay, download the 2024-2025 entry form here and find your sponsoring local VFW Post here.

This year, all submissions will have to be submitted via our new scholarship management program, Scholar’s App. This is an online platform that is intended to not only streamline the application submission and judging processes for the competition, but it will also expose the students to a wide range of scholarship opportunities once they create an account on the system. Please go to our ScholarsApp page for more information.

Applications/Essays are due to your local VFW Post by 31 October!

JUDGING CRITERIA

Originality - 30 points: Treatment of the theme should show imagination and human interest

Content - 35 points: Clearly express your ideas in an organized manner. Fully develop your theme and use transitions to move smoothly from one idea to the other.

Delivery - 35 points: Speak in a clear and credible manner.