School Spirit Contest
The Hope of America School Spirit Contest recognizes schools with the highest percentage of participation in the Hope of America program provided by America’s Freedom Festival.
This award pays special tribute to the school’s efforts to endear patriotism. The winning school will be invited to participate in the Fourth of July parade to represent the Hope of America!
Contest Guidelines
Eligibility: Open to schools participating at the Hope of America event at BYU Marriot Center
Submission Deadline: April 26
Guidelines:
- The Freedom Festival Hope of America School Spirit Contest is open to ALL Schools participating in the Hope of America at the Marriott Center whether in traditional public schools, public chartered schools, private schools, or home schools.
- All entries must be received no later than April 26.
- All submitted entries must include a completed Contest Entry. Winners will be notified by email when judging is completed.
Student participation in the Freedom Festival educational contests will be a consideration as winners are selected. The winning school will be invited to participate in the Fourth of July parade to represent the Hope of America!
Email us for support at: hopeofamerica@freedomfestival.org.
Cash prizes will be based on judging criteria.
WIN UP TO $500.00 plus the opportunity to participate in America’s Freedom Festival’s 4th of July parade and a pizza party for your school participants in Hope of America!
Download The Educational Events Poster
Download PosterContest Submission
Cedar Valley Elementary School
- Percentage of total student’s participation from your school in the Hope of America.
- Implementation of curriculum in teaching this year’s theme. The depth of insight in teaching, outside resources or other innovative efforts used to instill patriotism will also be considered.
- Percentage of children submitting essays, and artwork to the Freedom Festival contests pertaining to this year’s theme.
The founders of our nation believed that we must have the right to think, believe, argue, and worship freely, and, in turn, to express our beliefs to our fellow citizens and to our government as freely as possible. That idea—the freedom of conscience—is the core of the First Amendment.
Some possible questions or issues to be considered in essays:
1. What if there were no First Amendment? How would your life be affected?
2. Do you think the freedoms identified in the First Amendment would already be protected in a democracy where citizens have a role in shaping the government? Was it necessary to establish these rights in an official document?
3. Explain and give examples of how the First Amendment does not permit people to do anything they want to do. How and why are the liberties and rights of people not unlimited? In what kinds of situations do you think it is fair and reasonable to limit freedom of expressions?
4. Are the First Amendment freedoms among the “self-evident” and “unalienable rights” referred to in the Declaration of Independence? What is the relationship of the Declaration of Independence to the Bill of Rights?
5. Explain Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis statement that the founding generation “believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.