Conducted nationwide, this VFW-sponsored youth essay competition gives students an opportunity to write essays expressing their views on an annual patriotic theme. We invite you to join the more than 138,000 students who participated last year in this contest. The national winners will receive at least $500. The first-place national award is currently $5,000. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) has again approved this contest for its National Advisory List of Contests and Activities.
VFW’s Commander-in-Chief annually chooses the year’s theme. The 2025-26 theme is How Are You Showing Patriotism and Support for Our Country?
Each year nearly 1,000 students enter this contest in North Carolina through one of our 138 VFW Posts across the state. After the Post level, if your essay was chosen as the Post winner, you will move on to compete with other Post winners from within your District. Each District will then choose 1 winner to represent that District at the Department level.
A big thank you to the North Carolina Military Order of the Cootie for sponsoring these monetary awards!
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