Students interested in gaining communication skills, honing leadership skills and potentially earning scholarship money are encouraged to apply for Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Free Enterprise Speech Contest.
Participating students share their perspectives on the benefits of the free enterprise system and discuss the U.S. Constitution.
There are several changes to the contest this year.
The Free Enterprise Speech Contest, which was traditionally held at the TFB Annual Meeting in December, will now be held in conjunction with the TFB President’s Conference in February.
In previous years, TFB’s speech contest conflicted with the Texas FFA State Leadership Development Events (LDEs), requiring students to choose between the two contests.
“This change is important because it eliminates the conflict with the state FFA LDE contests,” TFB Director of Youth Outreach Mia Balko said. “Now students will be able to compete in both, creating more opportunities for them to develop communication and leadership skills.”
To qualify for the Free Enterprise Speech Contest, students must have attended the 2019 TFB Youth Leadership Conference in Stephenville, presented at least three speeches on the free enterprise system from June 17 to Sept. 20 and be part of a TFB member-family.
District contests will take place during October. Contestants will be notified of the date, location and time of the contest by their county Farm Bureau.
One winner and one runner-up will be chosen by each district. The winners will advance to compete in the state contest at TFB’s President’s Conference in Waco.
Each district winner will be awarded a $1,500 scholarship.
Four finalists at the state level will receive additional funding to amount to $2,000 each, including the district scholarship.
The state runner-up scholarship will increase to $3,000, and the state winner’s scholarship will increase to $6,000 total.
An expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., next summer to meet with Texas congressional leaders and tour historic sites is also included in the prize packages.
“We believe in the founding principles of private property and free enterprise, and we want to instill those values into our young people,” Balko said. “This contest helps students learn more about our country, our economy and how to communicate effectively with an audience.”
Applications are available online at texasfarmbureau.org/youth/youth-opportunities.
Completed applications are due Oct. 2.
Contest speeches from previous years can be found online at www.vimeo.com/texasfarmbureau/fes2018.
Contact Balko at mbalko@txfb.org or 254-399-5037 for more information.