VOICE OF DEMOCRACY

        

"Those who live in freedom will always be grateful to those who helped preserve it."  - Blue Mountain

ATTENTION STUDENTS

Enter the “Voice of Democracy” Audio Essay Contest

$500 total prizes (1st, 2nd, 3rd Place) sponsored by the Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539; 1st place winner eligible for district and possibly state and national prizes.

For the year 2009-2010, the Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539 is sponsoring a "Voice of Democracy" audio essay contest about "Does America Still Have Heroes? ...."  The Voice of Democracy is a national audio essay program for our nation's high school students, which annually provides more than $3 million in college scholarships and incentives to 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders across the nation.


The sole eligibility requirements for the contest are that the applicant (1) be a resident of or attend school in Bloomingdale, Roselle, or Medinah, Illinois,  (2) be a student in the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade and be properly enrolled in a public, private, parochial high school or a home study  program.  Foreign Exchange students are excluded,  (3) submit an application information page (available on official entry form: see below) and the essay both in writing and on cassette audiotape or CD conforming to rules below.

Rules: 

1. Application information page must include the application’s name, address, phone number and/or email address, date of birth, name and phone number of parent/guardian, school attending, current grade level, school address, names and phone numbers of school guidance counselor and selected teacher, and student signature.  Ask for copy of official entry form or go to www.vfw.org/resources/pdf/vod.pdf.
2. The audio essay on the topic of "Does America Still Have Heroes?" will be on cassette tape or CD and be no less than three minutes nor longer than five minutes in length.  A written transcript of the audio essay should also be provided.  The audio essay/transcript should not include any identifiers as mentioned on the application page (see above).
3. Only the audio essay, transcript, and application page should be placed in an envelope and mailed to:  Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539, ATTN:  Bill Bahr, 150 Greenfield Drive, Bloomingdale, IL  60108.  Envelope must be postmarked no later than 1 November 2008.  No special delivery or delivery requiring a signature will be accepted.   4. Submissions in envelopes postmarked as above and received by 4 November 2008 will be judged by a panel selected from members of the Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539.  Contestant will be disqualified if any inappropriate personal contact which concerns the contest is made by applicant or representative with any VFW judge.
5. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be announced by 10 November 2009, with winner(s) and participating schools notified, and with $500 total check(s)/prize(s) presented by VFW Post 7539 to winner(s) at a VFW event.  A school plaque will be presented at his/her school’s scholarship/awards night.   1st place winning entry will be forwarded to VFW District 19 for the district and, if appropriate, state and national contests.    Further details or related information can be obtained by calling Bill Bahr 630 307-3634 and visiting the VFW website at www.vfw.org.  Search for "Voice of Democracy" or locate entry form as mentioned above in item 1.   www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=cmty.leveld&did=150

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE COMPETITION?

Voice of Democracy is a National Audio Essay Competition that is conducted annually during the fall school term. This competition was designed to foster patriotism and to give high school students the opportunity to voice their opinion and address their responsibility to our country.  The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Ladies Auxiliary truly hope that every high school in our country will provide the opportunity for its students to take part in this competition. Through classroom study projects and special assignments, students will be motivated, while writing and speaking, to express their opinion about their personal obligations and better understand the rights and responsibilities of being an American.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE?

Students in the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade who are properly enrolled in a public, private, parochial high school or a home study program in the United States, its territories and possessions or enrolled in an  overseas school as a dependent of U.S. military or U.S. civilian personnel are eligible to compete.  Foreign Exchange students are excluded.

WHAT ARE THE AWARDS AND OPPORTUNITIES?

Each Department (state) first place winner receives an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.  Four fun-filled days of tours, theaters, visits to monuments, meeting with heads of state and often the President or Vice President of the United States, plus the opportunity to compete for National scholarships totaling over $145,000. The First Place National Winner receives a $25,000 scholarship.  The National judging is held in Washington, D.C. prior to the students' arrival and the winners are announced at a special reception in their
honor.

All National scholarships are paid directly to the American university, college or vocational/technical school as selected by the recipient.  Disbursement is made directly to the college/school upon receipt of proper notice from the college, certifying that the recipient has been accepted and is enrolled. All scholarship monies are held in escrow (for ten years from the date of high school graduation) at National Headquarters and disbursed as needed until the scholarship is totally withdrawn. The funds may be used for tuition, books, computers, laboratory fees and/or other items relating specifically to the student's formal education. Clothing, room and board and pocket money are not considered authorized expenditures.  All questions concerning scholarship disbursement should be referred to the National Director for review.

Numerous opportunities also exist to win valuable scholarships and awards at each level of the competition, as most VFW Posts/Auxiliaries offer monetary awards to participants who place in their local Post competition.

WHAT IS THE COMPETITION DEADLINE?

Student Entry Deadline....NOVEMBER 1st

WHERE DOES A STUDENT GO TO APPLY?

Entries in the Voice of Democracy Competition MUST be sponsored by a VFW Post.  Full cooperation with a VFW Post is vital to a successful  competition.  Any entry submitted to the National VFW Headquarters will be returned to sender. Please take the time to:

1.  Contact the local VFW Post (Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539) in your community and ask for the telephone number of their Voice of Democracy Chairman (Bill Bahr, 630 307-3634).  Primary details are provided above.
2. Visit the VFW websites at www.vfw.org & www.vfw7539.org

HOW DO I DO THE RECORDING?
It is recommended that all essays be recorded on good-quality cassettes.  Participants should be encouraged to record their essays using professional equipment that is often made available as a public service by local community-based radio stations.
THE COMPETITION THEME IS:  "Does America Still Have Heroes?" 
WHAT IS THE LENGTH OF THE ESSAY?   Not less than three minutes nor more than five minutes.
HOW ARE THE AUDIO ESSAYS JUDGED?
All eligible students will be judged on their interpretation of the competition theme.  This competition is not intended to be a speech competition and judges should not require a participant to give an oral/personal presentation.   All participants should be judged by listening to the cassette tape submitted by the student. The written essay script is needed in the processing of the entry; however, grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc... are not a part of the judging process. Point values are assigned as follows: 
DELIVERY             35; ORIGINALITY       30; CONTENT              35;                   100 points maximum
WHAT ARE THE COMPETITION RULES?
• The recorded essay must not be less than three minutes, nor longer than five minutes. Care should be taken to ensure that recordings are accurately timed.  A five-second variation is acceptable to compensate for possible differences in mechanical equipment.
• The recorded essay must be recorded in the participant's own voice (unless attached medical documentation attests to handicap). 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 (to include music) will be allowed.
• Participants cannot identify or in any way name themselves, their school, city or state within their written essay or their recorded audio cassette 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.
• Only 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students, who have not graduated from High School, are eligible to compete. Adults (over the age of 19) are not eligible to compete. Former first place Department (state) VOD winners and Foreign Exchange students are not eligible to compete.
• Contestants are allowed to enter only once (one Post competition), contestants found in violation of this rule will face elimination from the competition and will be required to return any and all prize money awarded or received.   Essay must be contestant's original work and a product of the contestant's own thinking.  The approach to the theme should be positive and focus on the theme.   Quotations may be used sparingly and should be plainly identified wherever used.
• All entries will be submitted on good-quality audio cassette tape. The participant can re-record their essay as many times as needed throughout the levels of competition to improve the audio quality, as long as they follow their original winning essay script; this allows for the improvement of noisy or inferior recordings.  Grammatical changes are allowed as long as the original message is not changed or altered. All contestants are judged based solely on their audio tape presentation;  the judging procedure and criteria does not include or allow provision to judge the quality of a contestant's written essay based on spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, neatness, grammar, etc.      
• Local jurisdictions should not impose additional rules or requirements on the student participants.   Students are competing in a nationwide audio-essay competition that requires participating Posts to adhere to a standardized set of rules. Students that enter our competition expect to be judged solely on their audio/essay entry, as provided in the competition's published judging criteria.  Disqualification based on the student's attendance at a local or state event is not acceptable as it overrides our standardized fair judging practices and is contrary to the essay-based focus of our competition.

Note:  In case of inadvertent discrepancy between Post and National Rules, National Rules apply.

2002-2003   VOD winner was Tim Brogan, LPHS, winning a $500 savings bond.
2003-2004   VOD winner was Kim Seigfreid, LPHS, winning a $1,000 savings bond.
2004-2005   VOD winner for Post 7539 was Kim Seigfreid, LPHS,winning a $1000 savings bond; also won 8th place
                          in the District 19 competition ($100).
2005-2006   VOD winner was Conor Grealish, winning a check for $500.
2006-2007   VOD winner was Elizabeth Necka, winning a check for $500. 
2007-2008   VOD winner was Nathan Bracher, winning a check for $500.  Click here to view Nathan's entry.
2008-2009   VOD winner was Dianna Necka, winning a check for $300; 2nd place was Kaitlyn Kesler, winning $200.
2009-20010 VOD winners will include YOU?   :)

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Here's an article on the VOD contest by Ashley Barnes, Lake Park High School,  10/12/06, Journalism, news story

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) are offering a $30,000 scholarship for high school students to the top winner.

Students in all grades of high school are eligible for the Voice of Democracy Scholarship. To enter, a student must write a neatly typed essay about his/her interpretation of this years topic, "Freedom’s Challenge."

Scholarships will be given at all levels, starting from the individual post, district, state, and up to national. By winning the national, the student receives the top prize of $30,000 which will go directly to the winner’s American college, university, or vocational/technical school.

State winners receive a trip to Washington D.C. in March.

"The trip consists of four days of fun.  [Attendees] will get a tour of the Capitol, visits to monuments, and often meet with the President or Vice President, and other assorted congressman," said Voice of Democracy Chair of Bloomingdale Post 7539 Bill Bahr.

The judging is held in Washington D.C. prior to the students' arrival.  Then the winners are announced in a ceremony held in their honor.

The scholarship began in 1946, by the National Association of Broadcasters, as a speech competition that the VFW helped organize.  A $500 savings bond and a wristwatch had been awarded to four regional winners each year.

When the NAB would no longer sponsor the scholarship, Bahr said that "the VFW picked it up."  The VFW has over 10,000 post nationwide, and in picking up the scholarship, the popularity of the scholarship grew.

The Voice of Democracy is funded through the VFW itself.

"As you go through the hierarchy, it gets funded. The posts have to pay the districts and the districts must pay the states," said Bahr.

"I love the Voice of Democracy Scholarship because it connects the students to the local community," said Lake Park counselor Elizabeth Bazukas.  "It is available for all four years [of high school] so you can submit multiple times.  It gives every person equal ground.  But a lot of kids don’t do it, so it awards the kids who are willing to go the extra mile.  And it’s less competitive on a local basis.  When you think about it, it is relatively little work for the money you could be getting."

If a student wins the competition within the individual post, he/she may win up to $1,000.

"$1,000 can be a year’s worth of books," Bazukas said. "$30,000 can be one free year of college!  It’s monumental!  For some kids it can be the deciding factor of whether they go away to school or not."

Also, when applying to colleges, it may just give the student the edge to earn acceptance.

"It depends on the school, but if they are looking at extra-curriculars it can have a huge difference," said Bazukas. "It can show how well-rounded you are."

"There is usually one winner from Lake Park every year, and on occasion, one from each campus. The Itasca VFW [*] tries to give one to a Lake Park student every year," said Bazukas.  "Four years ago we had a student advance to the state level.  So, while we don’t know how many kids actually complete their applications/entries, we usually have at least one winner from Lake Park. Not bad odds, right?"  To compete, the student must, in their voice, record the essay on a cassette tape; it is expected to be within three to five minutes. Cassette tapes are located in the Counseling Office for students interested in this scholarships. Students must submit the written and recorded essay along with the required entry form to their local VFW by November first.  Songs and poems will not be accepted, nor will any essays recorded with background music or other special effects.

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* NOTE:  The Bloomingdale VFW Post 7539, while not directly contacting LPHS, also offers, as stated previously, contest entry to high school students living in or going to school in Bloomingdale, Roselle, or Medina.  Students may only enter one VFW post contest. 

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