President Gerald R. Ford Student Writing Challenge

About the Student Writing Challenge

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation’s annual Student Writing Challenge invites students across the country to explore the values embodied by our 38th President as he answered the call to public service—and to consider how those values remain relevant today.

Each year, the theme of the challenge highlights a key aspect of Gerald R. Ford’s character, encouraging thoughtful reflection on leadership, integrity, and civic responsibility.

The 2026 Student Writing Challenge

The President Gerald R. Ford Student Writing Challenge is now accepting submissions through March 13, 2026, from 9-12th grade students in the United States to compete for a top prize of $2,500.

To enter, write a 500-750 word essay on the theme: How will you help advance our nation’s founding principles and contribute to building the more perfect union that our founders envisioned?

Submissions will be accepted through March 13, 2026, 5 PM EDT.

Writing Challenge Prompt

Fifty years ago, President Gerald R. Ford led the nation in celebrating America’s bicentennial. Speaking at the National Archives on July 2, 1976, he called the Declaration of Independence “the Polaris of our political order—the fixed star of freedom,” affirming its eternal moral truths. He noted that the Constitution translates those ideals into a framework of government that protects the unalienable rights of Americans. He said:

“The Declaration [of Independence] is the Polaris of our political order—the fixed star of freedom. It is impervious to change because it states moral truths that are eternal. The Constitution provides for its own changes, having equal force with the original articles. It began to change soon after it was ratified when the Bill of Rights was added. … The Constitution, when it is done, will translate the great ideas of the Declaration into a legal mechanism for effective government, where the unalienable rights of individual Americans are secure.” 

Two days later in Philadelphia, Ford reminded the nation that:

“[T]he struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is never truly won. Each generation of Americans, indeed all of humanity, must strive to achieve these aspirations anew.” 

Ford’s comments remind us that our nation’s founding principles in the Declaration are not self-executing. Instead, each generation must put them into action to continue to build, as our Constitution states, “a more perfect Union.”

As we now mark our 250th anniversary of independence, it is your turn: How will you help advance our nation’s founding principles and contribute to building the more perfect union that our founders envisioned?