Never before have we received so many entries for the competition. Three hundred participants are behind the 255 entries submitted. Sixty of them are media productions in the form of documentary films, audio productions, comic strips, posters, photographs, etc. The texts include articles, essays and feature articles among the genres, as well as poems and short stories.

This year’s assignment was to describe one or more cases of propaganda. Pupils were encouraged to be specific, taking their point of departure in the local community, in Norway or in the world, either at present or in the past. What is needed for something to be deemed ‘propaganda’? Many of the entries addressed the major ideologies of the 20th century, North Korea, Trump and fake news, although topics such as body shaming, advertising and influencing in western democracies were also analysed and discussed.

Hard work and great effort were invested in very single entry, and Fritt Ord would like to thank all those who submitted projects. We are looking forward to evaluating and judging the entries. This year, the best text and the best media production will be named, and each of the winners will receives a grant of NOK 20 000. In addition, the prize laureates will win a study tour to Strasbourg, where they will visit the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the EU Parliament.

This year’s jury is made up of Jostein Saxegaard, Amal Aden, Lene Julsen, Lars Laird Iversen and earlier prize laureate Iver Jensen. Participants will be notified of the results of the judging in March.