Free Press Student Essay Contest Winners Announced

Two local students and an out-of-state entrant have been awarded first-place prizes in a student essay contest about the free press. 

The National Student Essay Competition asked newspapers across the country to provide a forum for students, grades six through university, to submit essays on “why a free press matters in a democracy.” More than 200 essays from across the country were submitted. Examiner Media was one of the participating newspaper publishing companies. 

“We are grateful to Examiner Media, its publisher Adam Stone and its staff for their very generous support of the competition during a time when updating readers on both the COVID crisis and community news was keenly demanding,” commented National Student Essay Competition Director Mary Kay Lazarus. “We applaud the very talented students who responded to The Examiner’s call for entries and who dedicated time and thought to the First Amendment.” National Student Essay Competition jurors selected the winning essayists on behalf of The Examiner. 

In the university/college category, the first-place winner was Alexander Johansson, a student at Snow College in Utah. In the grades nine through 12 division, the first-place winner was Horace Greeley High School sophomore Sophia Spiegel, the second-place finisher was Walter Panas High School freshman Sabbia Gale-Donnelly and in third place was Horace Greeley High School junior Matty Wasserman. Maddie Stone, a seventh-grader at Fox Lane Middle School, won first-place in the grades six through eight category while Seven Bridges Middle School eighth-grader Emma Wasserman earned second-place and Seven Bridges eighth-grader Lachlan Smith nabbed third place.

“Optimism for the future of our country was inspired by the concern and thoughtfulness of these young essayists, who are remarkably informed and articulate,” Lazarus observed.

The first-place winning essayists will now compete as semi-finalists against winners from across the country. Finalists will be posted at https://mklpr.com/national-student-essay-competition.

National winners will be announced this summer. Awards will be presented Nov. 7 at the 15th annual lecture series “In Praise of Independent Journalism,” sponsored by the McCarthey Family Foundation, which is also funding this national competition.

The Boston Globe Foundation will award $5,000 to each winner. The overall winner will receive a full four-year scholarship, current total value of $152,000, to Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The mission of the National Student Essay Competition is to “add the yet untapped but very powerful voices of our students to public recognition of the invaluable service newspapers provide their communities and to cultivate these future leaders, enlightened citizens, and faithful readers as lifelong defenders of the First Amendment.” 

People with questions about the contest are asked to call Lazarus at 801-328-8899 or email studentessays@mklpr.com.

The following are the three first-place winning essays:

 

By Maddie Stone

Freedom of the press (noun): the right to report news without being controlled by the government. The freedom of the press is pivotal to democracy and informing the public, but before we can protect our rights, we must understand them. The founding fathers knew that a free press was crucial to revolutionizing democracy in government. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” These freedoms allow citizens to question authority. Of these many freedoms, the amendment ensures the right for people to publish their opinions and information without the government stopping them. That freedom is the difference between democracy and dictatorship.

 Democracy is a form of government in which the common people hold political power. The press has informally been named the fourth estate because it observes the political process. Journalists expose fraud and unethical behavior in our leaders. They play a key role in keeping the government in check. For example, the Watergate scandal. While the federal government was covering up the break-in of the Watergate complex, reporters for the Washington Post, Bob Wordward and Carl Bernstein, were investigating the burglary and exposing President Nixon’s crimes. This is just one example of how the press has uncovered corruption. 

The press is under attack. Threats against journalists have escalated to a severe level. President Donald Trump has often so kindly called the press “fake news” and “the enemy of the people”. As for the journalists, he has called them “scum”, “liars”, and “the lowest form of life.” To call these remarks ignorant would be an insult to ignorant people. Trump once joked to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about “getting rid” of journalists. When the leaders of our country make vicious comments and denounce journalism without cause, there is a very real risk of arousing violence, putting the lives of journalists at risk, from small-town reporters to national broadcasters. A restricted press is the first step to totalitarianism, and Donald Trump doesn’t even seem to care. Every president has had some sort of a problem with the press, but these remarks cross the line. Attacks on journalism are attacks on democracy. 

This assault on the press must stop. Especially amidst a crisis like the current COVID-19 pandemic, a free press is so important to update the public on how to prevent yourself from getting sick. The free press stands against Trump’s attacks on the press, so we must too. We must stand with journalists as they fight for the public’s right to know. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

 

By Sophia Spiegel

The “Freedom Journal” was founded on March 16, 1827, by a group of free African Americans- who were exhausted with the societal and literary oppositions they were experiencing due to racism and slavery in the United States. This newspaper’s mission was to appeal to the large population of free blacks at that time, and to increase literacy in that group of people. It also was used to recognize the truth behind African American society, and to illuminate accomplishments of groups and individuals who were black, something that white newspapers rarely did. This paper had major success in African American societies, and inspired and uplifted black citizens in their fight for freedom from slavery, and their quest for equality. This journal’s story, and history, show why the freedom of press is essential in the democracy of the United States.

In the first issue of the “Freedom Journal”, editors John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish state, “Too long have others spoken for us, too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations”. Like stated before, these “misrepresentations” were in reference to many white newspapers at the time, who collectively and generally, had negative and incorrect opinions about blacks. These papers typically depicted slaves as children, who needed support from the whites to survive. They also propagated the negative view that African Americans were inferior and were threats to society if free. These newspapers were racist and bigoted, but due to the freedom of press, sadly, they were able to be published. Fortunately, African Americans were also able to write newspapers, like the “Freedom Journal”, and in these they described many African American accomplishments.These achievements spanned many genres, from African American music, to literary prestige of the same, and showed other African Americans, slave or free, that they were capable of the same prominence that whites were. They in essence, were able to flip the script, and take back their own representation, something white society had stolen from them. Thus we see the importance of the press in a new way. They had to fight and work for their representation in society, through literary tabloids, something white people often took for granted. African Americans were finally able to begin rising up in society, something they never have been able to accomplish without the freedom of press.

Even though this tabloid was written long ago, it still has many modern applications. It’s entire publication can be counted as a lesson to us all, that when a population is misrepresented, that said population has the ability and power to change what people believe about them. The “Freedom Journal” shows this in a powerful way, and can be considered one of the first steps taken to end bigotry, hate, and misrepresentation of African Americans in the United States. Although mentioned before, it is still true; the freedom of press is essential to the democracy of the United States, and this is shown by the “Freedom Journal.”