This essay contest for rising high school juniors and seniors celebrates Fidelity Month 2026 this June and our nation's semiquincentennial on July 4th.

Students will write essays of 700-1000 words responding to one or more prompts (below) about the importance of faithfulness—even when it's challenging and unpopular—to the basic values that unite Americans: faithfulness to God, our spouses and families, and our country and communities.

Winning essays will receive scholarship awards.

First Place: $3000

Second Place: $2000

Third Place: $1000

The first place essay will be published in Public Discourse.

Introduction 

Fidelity is faithfulness—especially when it is challenging and unpopular—to God, one’s spouse and family, and one’s country and communities. Fidelity is not stubbornness, refusing to consider arguments and evidence that challenge one’s own beliefs. It is, rather, steadfastness to one’s commitments and convictions, even when the going gets rough.

George Washington faced many challenges when leading the American Revolution: the powerful British empire, an inefficient Continental Congress, and an impoverished patriot army. Yet, he remained faithful to the Revolution’s principles, and his fidelity was undergirded by his belief in divine providence.

The same is true of Abraham Lincoln, who could have allowed the South to secede, preserving slavery but perhaps avoiding the bloodshed of the Civil War. Nonetheless, he made the hard decision to remain faithful to America’s founding principles, preserving the union.

America’s greatest leaders also looked for models in the classical tradition, such as the Roman orator Cicero, who believed that republican government best guarded against tyranny as citizens pursue the common good together in fidelity to institutions.

Prompt 

Address any or all of the following topics:

1. Write about a person from American history (not Washington or Lincoln) who exemplified fidelity.
2. In what ways—if any—is America an exceptional nation?
3. Reflect on this quote from John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence: “There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.” Why did the founders think that civil and religious liberty support one another?