At a well-attended breakfast gathering Dec. 16 at Samuel Owens Restaurant and Bar, 128 Chestnut St., Coplay, Northampton Veterans of Foreign War Post 4714 held its annual Voice of Democracy competition awards reception.

Post Commander Larry Schlittler led the event. He thanked all for attending the awards breakfast and stressed the value of assisting young people in their future academic endeavors.

Schlittler presented monetary awards to 11th-grade student Octavia Reichelderfer as the first-place winner and 12th-grader Braeden Lower as the second-place winner. Twelfth-grade student Andrew Landino was the third-place winner. All three winners attend Northampton Area High School.

Their high school teacher and adviser Jerry Batcha was present to support the winners and the program. A number of VFW veterans, sharply dressed in blue military uniforms, were in attendance. Family members of the award recipients also attended.

The national VFW-designated 2023-24 theme of the student essays was “What are our greatest attributes of our democracy.”

The Voice of Democracy program is an annual nationwide scholarship program sponsored by the National VFW. It is an audio-essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. The annual program provides more than $2.3 million in scholarships to successful entrees.

The Voice of Democracy program began in 1947. There are approximately 40,000 participants of grades 9-12 nationwide. The national first-place winner receives a $35,000 award that gets paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational/technical school when they matriculate.

All of the three winners competed against numerous other applicants at the VFW district level.

In addition to the scholarship money award, they received jackets, backpacks and a certificate of achievement.

An added plus for the winners was they and their family members enjoyed breakfast with other winners’ families and VFW members of Post 4714.

District level selections advance to the state competition. If one of the three advances to the national level, held in Washington, D.C., the top prize at the national level is a $35,000 scholarship.