ENTER A COMPETITION
Progressive Patriot Poster Contest
Images to Inspire America
Throughout American history, images of hope, pride, and determination have reminded citizens that America's strength lies in its people, working together to overcome any obstacle. In 1754, Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die" cartoon urged the American colonies to unite for survival. The WPA images of the 1930s encouraged and educated a scared and hungry nation. During WWII, security posters reminded us that "loose lips may sink ships" while Rosie the Riveter awakened a new kind of strength in American women. Many of these images have remained national icons to this day, their messages and emotions still relevant.
With the United States facing immense challenges, it is time for a new generation of images to embolden and unite us. The True Patriot Network sponsored an online juried poster exhibition with prizes totaling $3,000. We asked artists to submit images that embody the nature of true American patriotism.
Grandy Jury Prize Winner
The True Patriot Network is proud to announce the $2000 Grand Jury Prize winner for the Progressive Patriot Poster Contest was awarded to Doug Nellis of Seattle, WA.
We received entries from across the country. Entrants were asked to create an original poster to inspire Americans to be true patriots along with a short statement. Chadwick Gray of Forest, Virginia won a $500 Award of Excellence for his artwork. A group of senior graphic design students from Oregon State University also won a $500 Award of Excellence for their collaborative work. The students are Drew Dawson, Amy Owen, Whitney Root, and Brenden Schild of Corvallis, Oregon.
The poster Doug Nellis created shows some of America's greatest examples of true patriots. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King each challenged the nation to rise to its exceptional promise. As Americans enjoy our day of independence, we must celebrate not only the freedoms that our nation provides us, but the great responsibilities as well. Learn more...
We wrote The True Patriot to spur national conversations about the values and principles that ought to guide our politics—and to inspire civic action consistent with those values. We believe that true patriotism is an inheritance derived from the progressive ideals of our nation's founders, and we believe we have an obligation to pass that inheritance on to the next generation.
To help create this legacy, in 2008 we launched a national high school essay contest on the question, "What does true patriotism mean to you?" We received thousands of essays from across the nation. We were moved by what all of these young people had to say, inspired by their personal explorations of true American patriotism.
Scholarship Winner
We're very pleased to announce the winner of The True Patriot Network essay contest and $25,000 college scholarship: Paige Edmiston, a senior at Federal Way High School in Federal Way, Washington. Paige plans to attend the University of Washington this fall and with her passion for storytelling it is likely that she'll study journalism. She founded her first newspaper in elementary school and went on to serve as editor-in-chief of her middle school yearbook and her high school newspaper, The Eagle Eye. Paige's interest in storytelling dovetails with her passion for social justice. She is co-president of her Amnesty International club and has volunteered with Union Gospel Mission and World Vision. Paige tells us, "I have learned that there are countless stories that need to be told: about wrongs that need to be made right, and people who need help that can't help themselves."
Read Paige's essay, What True Patriotism Means to Me: A New Breed of Superhero for the 21st Century. It inspired us and we believe it will inspire you too.
Paige's United States Congressional Representative, Adam Smith, joined The True Patriot Network co-founder Eric Liu in congratulating Paige on her achievement at a Federal Way High School assembly on April 10. Learn more...
We thank all of the students who participated in this competition. We hope that the experience of writing their essays was personally rewarding to them.